Jules de Balincourt (born 1972) is a French-born American contemporary artist, based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. He is best known for his abstract, atmospheric paintings, with saturated colors, blurring the line between fantasy and reality.

Biography

In 1972 de Balincourt was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and moved throughout his childhood but primarily growing up near the Malibou Lake area in the

Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains are a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area encompasses this mountain range. Because of its p ...

. He was educated in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

at the California College of the Arts (CCA), receiving a B.F.A. in ceramics in 1998 and went on to study in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

at the

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

graduating in 2005 with an M.F.A. In 2006, de Balincourt founded the alternative art space Starr Space (formerly known as Starr Street Projects) in Brooklyn, New York. Starr Space operated for three years and was used for diverse community programming, art events, yoga, weekly farmers market, rock shows, church parties and fundraisers, notable performances and performers such as Ryan Trecartin, Terence Koh, Rita Ackermann, Mirror Mirror,

the Slits The Slits were a punk/post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma Rom ...

, Lucky Dragons and

Harmony Korine Harmony Korine (born January 4, 1973) is an American filmmaker, actor, photographer, artist, and author. His methods feature an erratic, loose and transgressive aesthetic, exploring taboo themes and incorporating experimental techniques,Alicia Kn ...

. To create his paintings, he doesn't often work from photos or drawings. In his paintings he uses stencils, tape, knives and spray paint in the style of

Outsider art Outsider art is Fine art, art made by Autodidacticism, self-taught individuals who are untrained and untutored in the traditional arts with typically little or no contact with the Convention (norm), conventions of the art worlds. The term ''ou ...

. Carol Lee called de Balincourt the "mayor of Bushwick" in an article for ''

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

''.

Exhibitions

His work has been exhibited at prominent international galleries and museums including Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

in Paris, Mori Museum in Tokyo (solo) and has been featured in high-profile exhibitions including, “Greater New York” at the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and

MOMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York, and “USA Today” at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in London. His work is in prominent collections, including the Oppenheimer – JCCC Collection for the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Saatchi Gallery, Brooklyn museum, LACMA.

References

External links

Jules de Balincourt's website
* sample of artwork 1972 births 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters French contemporary artists 21st-century French painters 21st-century French male artists Hunter College alumni Living people Artists from New York (state) California College of the Arts alumni People from Bushwick, Brooklyn {{France-painter-20thC-stub