Oscillating between utopia and dystopia, Jules de Balincourt's paintings explore indoor and outdoor spaces that suggest ever-changing landscapes - both physical and psychological. His colourful and stylised works evoke cultural and historical narratives, while maintaining a focus on painterly elements. Amalgamating movements such as Pop art, folk art, figuration and abstraction, he unites an array of formal properties in a single dreamlike space.
In the paintings for which he first became known, Balincourt questions power structures, technology and mass media, as well as pop culture stereotypes such as the figure of the lonesome cowboy. Often disguising complex social commentary in seemingly innocuous scenes, his paintings reveal details that undermine or complicate the apparent narrative. In his subsequent map-based works, Balincourt freed himself from any obligation to accurately represent the world in terms of continents, countries, and borders. Attempting instead to convey a more imaginative sense of time and space, the artist reminds us that we also inhabit inner worlds. Verging on the abstract, these images are more symbolic than diagrammatic. A sense of things breaking apart and reconnecting informs his series of works depicting explosions and radiations in bold colours, which become pure fields of energy.
While retaining a social, cultural and political dimension to his work, in recent years Balincourt has explored the idea of a realm in which indications of specific place or time are absent. This development demonstrates his quest for a more spiritual or existential approach to painting. The juxtaposition of bold colours, as well as the luxuriant presence of nature, recalls the visual characteristics that defined turn-of-the-century Primitivism and the Nabis group, while offering a meditation on the meaning of contemporary life. Inviting us to journey across territories that might be celestial or earthbound, nocturnal or sunlit, the artist often cites the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists as an important influence on his work. However, the Bay Area figurative painters from the 1960s and 1970s, such as Richard Diebenkorn or Elmer Bischoff, had an equally significant role during his formative years in California. His work also reveals the influence of 20th-century American modernists who brought the tradition of landscape painting into the field of abstraction, such as Arthur Dove or Milton Avery.
Born in Paris, Balincourt moved to Los Angeles, California with his family in the early 1980s and graduated from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. He now splits his time between Brooklyn, New York and Costa Rica. Early in his career, Balincourt participated in significant group exhibitions such as Greater New York at MoMA PS1, Queens, NY (2005); Notre histoire… at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006); Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation at the Guggenheim Bilbao (2007); and USA TODAY at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2006) and the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (2007). He has since had a number of international solo museum exhibitions, including Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2010); Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal (2013); Rochechouart Museum of Contemporary Art, Rochechouart (2014); The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas (2014-15); Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel (2015); and participated in the group exhibitions Rehang at Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy (2019) and Eldorado 3000 with two exhibitions: Les enfants du paradis at MUba Eugène Leroy Tourcoing and Eldorama at Tripostal, Lille, France (2019).
2022
Jules de Balincourt: Birds on a Boat, Pace, Hong Kong
2021
Jules de Balincourt: After The Gold Rush, CAC Málaga | Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Málaga, Málaga, Spain
2020
There are more eyes than leaves on the trees, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2018
One Island Many People, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark
They Cast Long Shadows, Victoria Miro, London, UK
2017
We Come Together at Night, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2016
Stumbling Pioneers, Victoria Miro, London, UK
2015
As Far West As We Could Go, Kasseler Kunstverein, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
2014
FOCUS: Jules de Balincourt, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX, USA
Misfit Island, Rochechouart Museum of Contemporary Art, Rochechouart, France
Blue Hours, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2013
Jules de Balincourt: Paintings 2004–2013, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada
Itinerant Ones, Victoria Miro, London, UK
2012
Ecstatic Contact, Salon 94 Bowery, New York, NY, USA
Parallel Universe, Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy
An Honest Statement, Espace Louis Vuitton, Hong Kong
2011
Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2010
Premonitions, Deitch Projects, New York, NY, USA
MAM PROJECT 011: Jules de Balincourt, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
2008
Malpais, Thaddeus Ropac, Paris, France
Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, Nashville, TN, USA
2007
Unknowing Man's Nature, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Allweweresayingwasgivepeaceachance, Mario Diacono at Ars Libri, Boston, MA, USA
2006
Accidental Tourism and the Art of Forgetting, Arndt and Partner, Berlin, Germany
2005
This is Our Town, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2003
Land of Many Uses, LFL Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Allston Skirt Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
2000
Space 743, San Francisco, CA, USA
1999
Perch Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
1998
Soapbox Gallery, Venice, CA, USA
2022
Unnatural Nature: Post-Pop Landscapes, Acquavella Galleries, Palm Beach, FL, USA
2020
30 Years in Paris, Thaddeaus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
2019
Rehang, Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Away in the Hill, GRIMM New York, New York, NY, USA
Les Enfants du Paradis, MUba Eugène Leroy à Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France
Eldorama, Tripostal, Lille, France
Works on Paper, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark
We Contain Multitudes, cur. Ali Banisadr, Gallery Isa, Mumbai, India
The Value of Sanctuary: Building a House Without Walls, cur. Kristen Lubben, The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, New York, NY, USA
Still Looking: A Still Life Show, Artual Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2018
Biennial of Painting On Landscapes, MDD | Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium
2017
The New Frontiers of Painting, Fondazione Stelline, Milan, Italy
Art Turns. World Turns. Exploring the Collection of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara, Museum MACAN, Jacarta, Indonesia
Déjeuner sur l’herbe, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Weekend, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
House Work, Victoria Miro, London, UK
2016
The Universe and Art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Flowers in your hair, Fused Space, San Francisco, CA, USA
Protest, Victoria Miro, London, UK
2015
Jules de Balincourt, Stephan Balkenhol, Alex Katz, Monica de Cardenas, Zuoz, Switzerland
Space Age, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Metropolis: Paintings of the Contemporary Urban Landscape, cur. David Ebony, Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, New York, NY, USA
20 + 2 Years, cur. Matthias Arndt, Helutrans Artspace, Singapore, Malaysia
2014
Eurasia, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Another Place, Hunter College Alumni Show, New York, NY, USA
Duro Olowu: More Material, Salon 94 Bowery, New York, NY, USA
2013
LAT. 41° 7' N., LONG. 72° 19' W, cur. Bob Nickas, Martos Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Something About a Tree, cur. Linda Yablonsky, Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY, USA
La Belle Peinture 2, organised by L’Institut Français de Slovaquie, Palais Pisztory, Bratislava, Slovakia
Cinematic Visions – Painting at the Edge of Reality, cur. Glenn Scott Wright, James Franco and Isaac Julien, Victoria Miro, London, UK
Brooklyn Artists Ball, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, USA
L'Ange de l'Histoire, cur. Nicolas Bourriaud, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
Disaster / The End of Days, cur. Séverine Wealchli and Michael Bracewell, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Pantin, France
Chicken or Beef?, The Hole, New York, NY, USA
2012
Painting as Radical Form, Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Pothole, Salon 94 Bowery, New York, NY, USA
2011
We Regret to Inform You, Martos Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Visions, Monica De Cardenas, Milan, Italy
2011 Bridgehampton Biennial, cur. Bob Nickas, Martos Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY, USA
New York Minute, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, Russia
Facemaker, cur. Kathy Grayson, Royal/T, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2010
Not Quite Open for Business, The Hole, New York, NY, USA
Looking Back / The Fifth White Columns Annual, selected by Bob Nickas, White Columns, New York, NY, USA
The Cannibal’s Muse, cur. Max Henry, Patricia Low Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
The Secret Lives of Trees, Monica de Cardenas, Milan, Italy
2009
10th Havana Biennial, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba
Mixing It Up: Recent Hunter MFAs Working in Combined Media, The Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery at Hunter College, New York, NY, USA
Return to Function, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI, USA
Transitions. Painting at the (Other) End of Art, Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Cave Painting, PSM, Berlin, Germany; Gresham’s Ghost, New York, NY, USA
New York Minute, MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
FUTURESCAPE: Making of the Super City, Contemporary Art Galleries, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
STAGES, Deitch Projects, New York, NY, USA
2008
Mail Order Monsters, Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK
21: Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Future Tense: Reshaping the Landscape, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York, NY, USA
I want a little sugar in my bowl, Asia Song Society, New York, NY, USA
Recent Acquisitions, Gifts, and Works from Various Exhibitions 1985–2007, White Columns, New York, NY, USA
Eastern Standard, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, USA
Cynicism vs Hope, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2007
USA TODAY, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Artists of Invention: A Century of CCA, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA, USA
Past, Present, Future Perfect: Selections from the Ovitz Family Collection, H+R Block Artspace, Kansas City, MO, USA
Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China; Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain
Phantasmania, Kemper Art Museum, Kansas City, MO, USA
Poets on Painters, Ulrich Museum, Wichita, KS, USA
Prague Biennial 3, Prague, Czech Republic
Five Painters, Galleri Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden
When We Build Let Us Think That We Build Forever, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
The Stuff What We Bought (Selected Purchases 2007), Archeus, London, UK
2006
USA TODAY, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
New York Contemporary: Art Times Squared, Hangart-7, Salzburg, Austria
Our Town, HUT Hudson Untitled Foundation, Hudson, NY, USA
Reverence, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY, USA
Collection 2005/06, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Metro Pictures, The Moore Space, Miami, FL, USA
Down By Law, Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
Don’t Abandon the Ship, Allston Skirt Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
Humor Me, H+R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO, USA
Notre histoire..., Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2005
Greater New York, MoMA PS1, Queens, NY, USA
2004
Trunk of Humors, Deitch Projects, New York, NY, USA
4 und 4, Muller DeChiara, Berlin, Germany
The Dreamland Artist Club, Creative Time / Coney Island, New York, NY, USA
True Stories, Johnson City Community College Art Gallery, Overland Park, KS, USA
Collection (or How I Spent a Year), MoMA PS1, Queens, NY, USA
Rowdy Remix, ATM Gallery, New York, NY, USA
American Stars 'n Bars, Chapman University Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA, USA
2003
Summer Jam, Peres Projects, Los Angeles, CA, USA
College Art Association MFA Selection Exhibition, New York, NY, USA
Today’s Man, John Connelly Presents, New York, NY, USA
My people were fair and had cum in their hair (but now they're content to spray stars from your boughs), Team Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2002
Brooklyn Front, Other Routes (Mixed Greens), Brooklyn, NY, USA
NY Art Hut, Nutty, San Francisco, CA, USA
1999
Southern Exposure, 15th Annual Hospitality House, San Francisco, CA, USA
Canada
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal
France
Musée départemental d'art contemporain de Rochechouart, Rochechouart
Italy
Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia
MaRT | Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto
USA
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Oppenheimer Collection, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS