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Welcome.

Jack Balas is an artist originally based in Chicago and Los Angeles, who divides his time between painting, drawing and photography, cross-referenced at times with writing and other media . A recipient in 1995 of an Individual Fellowship in Painting from the National Endowment for the Arts, he is represented in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art (New York), the Tucson Museum of Art, the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (Iowa), the Kent & Vicki Logan Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the 21c Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, and the Usminas Cultural Institute (Usicultura), Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil.  A portfolio of his paintings "Today I Drove Along the Rio Grande" was published in issue #120 of The Paris Review (New York). His 2008 museum solo project "We'll Be Seeing You" appeared at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver.

This website includes a broad spectrum of the artwork divided into individual media in the above navigation bar. You can read an artist statement and get an overview of the work by taking a TOUR.  The newest painting and photo work is in the black area below, while a few other highlights from the past are in the adjacent gray.

A note about the typeface size used: many browsers seem to display the text on this site at a much larger size than what was intended. You can reduce the text size in most browsers. A general recommendation would be at 75% if it seems too big for you.

 CURRENT SHOWS
& NEWS:
    

 

GROUP EXHIBITION:

"CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF THE
WESTERN LANDSCAPE,"
Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, Albuquerque, NM.
May 19 - September 1, 2013

 

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New Essay on JACKROAD:


WHERE'S THE BEEF?
A LOOK FOR (AND LACK OF)
THE MALE EROTIC IMAGE
IN CONTEMPORARY ART.
IS THE TERM "HOMO-EROTIC"
PEJORATIVE?

 

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New!
JackBook 3: TATTOO DETOUR
Paintings & Drawings from
Honolulu

180 pages with 175 images
preview & order at
BLURB.COM

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Inclusion in the
WEST edition of
NEW AMERICAN PAINTINGS

curated by Bill Arning, Director,
Contemporary Art Museum,
Houston, Texas

ON NEWSSTANDS NOW

 

 

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JackBook 1:
Catalog from Blurb.com
An 80-page, full-color look at
the STUD DUST photo series.

 

 

JackBook 4
Catalog from Blurb.com
An 80-page, full-color look at
the MUSE/ MUSEUM series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The BROOKLYN MUSEUM,
New York City,
has recently acquired two pieces
from the MUSE / MUSEUM series
for its permanent collection.

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New Catalog
written by Jack Balas
on the ceramic art of
Robert Judson and the
paintings and drawings
of Lloyd Rolfe

120 pages with 256 images
preview & order at
BLURB.COM

 

 

 

 

 

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  Current Work:  2011-2013

 

 

 

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 Series: MUSE / MUSEUM --

New work 2013

 

 

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 TATTOO DETOUR 6:

Honolulu Drawings 2012  

 

 

 

 

 

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www.JackBalas.com: BACK TO BACK OF THE YARDS: Collage from Southside Chicag 

New Collage Series:
BACK TO
BACK OF THE YARDS
 

 

CATALOG ESSAY for "DECADES OF INFLUENCE" and "EXTENDED REMIX"
Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver

"Artist and catalogue contributor Jack Balas captures the boom mood in his poetic essay about being a laborer for hire. His description of driving across the country as an art shipper in the 80's expresses the increasing vulnerability of the artist through a portrait of the landscape. Looking in the rearview mirror suggests that the 90's represented the point of no return for the contemporary art world."

Cydney Payton, Executive Director /
Chief Curator, MoCA Denver.

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"WE'LL BE SEEING YOU" :
PROJECT AND SOLO EXHIBITION
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, DENVER

(Summer, 2008)

 

Cover Image for
"How to Name a Hurricane"
by Rane Arroyo
University of Arizona Press

In Bookstores Now

 


 inclusion in "SELF-EXPOSURE:
THE MALE NUDE SELF-PORTRAIT"
photo anthology by Reed Massengill,
published by Rizzoli International,
New York

In bookstores now

INCLUSION IN
NEW PHOTO ANTHOLOGY:
THE MAMMOTH BOOK
OF GORGEOUS GUYS

 

 "AMERICAN MALE"
SOLO EXHIBITION
EGO GALLERY
BARCELONA, SPAIN
January 29 - March 5, 2009

See Installation Photos here.
40-page full-color catalog
available

     

highlights FROM THE ARCHIVE:

All contents of this site
© 2002-13 by Jack Balas.

NOW ON THE SITE:

1980's - 1990's PAINTINGS

LANDSCAPE
TEXT
COLLAGE
OTHER COOL STUFF

  STUD DUST
A series of photographs
A.K.A. "Studio Men"

 

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TATTOO DETOUR 5
Drawings from Honolulu
2011