Jules de Balincourt: Moving Landscapes

4 Oct-2 Nov 2024

Overview

In this new body of work, the Brooklyn-based artist continues his exploration of painting as an intuitive process, resulting in fantasy-like worlds in which landscapes and seascapes become sites of possibility and escape. The exhibition is accompanied by an essay by Bob Nickas, who considers these new paintings in the context of the themes and motifs that have preoccupied the artist over the past two decades.

‘Although all these works are contemporary, these images register as archetypal. It’s no surprise, then, that de Balincourt keeps coming back to a dispersed tribe drawn to similar settings as if by gravitational pull, in parallel to the power of recurring dreams. There is something the artist believes in, which may be what he seeks, as most of us do: community, shared purpose, a sense of connection to one another and to the natural world.’ – Bob Nickas

Jules de Balincourt’s paintings are states of mind rather than descriptions of reality. Rather than rely on sketch, photography, or direct reference, the artist’s process initially involves him building up many translucent layers of paint, working from abstraction into a figurative depiction. In these ambiguous, evocative spaces, where figures seem to be in perpetual motion, one senses the movement of an ever-changing, volatile world. At times, landscapes and figures start to break down into more abstract imagery, retaining figurative elements that allude to meditation or escape from our reality.

Artists