Jack Balas
2010s American Realist Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s American Realist Nude Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Paintings
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Paintings
Enamel
2010s Contemporary Paintings
Enamel
2010s Contemporary Paintings
Acrylic, India Ink, Paper
2010s Contemporary Paintings
Gouache, Watercolor, India Ink, Paper
2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Acrylic, Paper, Watercolor
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor, Acrylic
2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Acrylic, Watercolor, Ink, Graphite
Early 2000s Contemporary Nude Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor, Screen
2010s Other Art Style Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Acrylic, Watercolor, Paper, Ink
2010s Other Art Style Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Acrylic, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Enamel
2010s Contemporary Paintings
Enamel
Early 2000s Contemporary Paintings
Enamel
2010s Contemporary Paintings
Enamel
2010s Contemporary Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, India Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, India Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
People Also Browsed
2010s Modern Nude Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal, Crayon, Graphite
2010s Academic Portrait Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Nude Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor, Paper
2010s Contemporary Nude Drawings and Watercolors
Charcoal, Archival Paper, Graphite, Conté
Vintage 1930s American Art Deco Drawings
Paper
2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor, Paper
Early 2000s Contemporary Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Nude Paintings
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Carbon Pencil, Oil Pastel
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
Vintage 1950s American Art Deco Drawings
Early 20th Century French Drawings
Paper
2010s Academic Figurative Paintings
Canvas, Oil
2010s Contemporary Paintings
Canvas, Masonite, Oil
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Panel, Oil
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Panel, Oil
Recent Sales
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor, Graphite
2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Acrylic, Watercolor, Ink
2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
India Ink, Paper, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Gesso, Oil, Paper
2010s Contemporary Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Oil Pastel
2010s Contemporary Nude Drawings and Watercolors
Paper, Acrylic, Watercolor
2010s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
Enamel
2010s Other Art Style Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Watercolor, Paper, Acrylic
Jack Balas For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much are Jack Balas?
Jack Balas for sale on 1stDibs
Jack Balas is an artist whose work primarily includes painting, drawing and photography; occasionally cross-pollinated with writing and other media. After earning his BFA and MFA in sculpture from Northern Illinois University, Balas moved from the Chicago area to Los Angeles, where he worked as a cross-country art shipper, driving between Los Angeles and New York on a route that regularly took him through the western landscapes that have come to define much of his work. Eventually moving away from sculpture entirely, Balas began producing paintings of athletic young men, annotated and layered with numbers, illustrations, personal anecdotes, and other disparate elements that offer a depiction of idealized masculinity in America through the lens of Balas's personal experiences; as well as a contemporary counterpoint to the art-historical archetype of the female nude. A 1995 recipient of an Individual Fellowship in Painting from the National Endowment for the Arts, Balas is now represented in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Denver Art Museum, Colorado; the Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona; the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Iowa; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; the 21c Museum, Louisville, Kentucky; the Albuquerque Museum, New Mexico; and the Usiminas Cultural Institute, Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, Brazil; among others. Balas currently divides his time between Denver and Tucson.
A Close Look at Contemporary Art
Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.
Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.
The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.
Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.
Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.