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 xxxx

Current Paintings: 2022 -- 2023

SEEKING QUESTIONS TO LIFE'S BIG ANSWERS

When I painted landscape imagery and the constructed environment years ago, I liked to talk about formal concerns: painting as map or diary or arena linking visual and verbal, conceptual and material, fact and fiction, abstraction and representation; not to mention a blend of styles and a viewer building bridges between disparate ideas. While all this remains true, with the paintings today I would say that, given how many images we are all bombarded with every day via the media, I am simply interested in making memorable ones.

The figure has taken center stage since the early 2000's, and there are perhaps four different levels on which one can consider the work: 1) on the beauty level, by which I mean the combination of painting media (watercolor, oil, ink) and styles (abstraction, representation) in a complementary tension that augments the imagery involved; 2) on a political level, in that my goal with the guys who dominate the images and constitute my muse is to populate an art world with them-- an art world where the female image, nude or otherwise, is about as normal as a burger and fries, while the male image continues to be considered, by some, suspect, and is thus in short supply; 3) on the textual level, presenting titles that can be read in varying ways and short stories that are written before or after the images come along, but in any case are springboards for the reader's imagination; and 4) on the transcendent level, an attempt to depict a thoughtful, if not vulnerable, Everyman, reaching beyond the fleeting surface idealization associated with youth and hopefully going far in terms of metaphor, poking around such timeless ideas as: truth, beauty, faith, time, the infinite, what we learn and what we know.

It may seem questionable indeed these days to even concern myself with such unanswerables, but in an era when political and spiritual leaders assert that they in fact have the answers for us all, I think that art has the capacity to imagine otherwise, to offer some transcendent spark to bridge the gap between intent and form, between idea and the evidence of our lives. Muse indeed.

Note: At times my focus is on paper works in series, for instance the MUSE/MUSEUM watercolors and TATTOO DETOUR drawings from Honolulu. Therefore, select images from these series have been incorporated onto this page along with the "usual" canvases. More images from these series can be found on their dedicated pages.  

Note 2: As of December, 2022, I am including a few PHOTOGRAPHS in the mix, to contextualize the paintings within my "usual" realm of visual interests.


 

2023 works

 
  xx

Jack Balas, 2023;
THE BIGGER PICTURE (#2456.1535);

 

Click on image for text and details

 

 



 

Jack Balas, 2023; GOLD LEAF (#2457.1025.897x);
Oil, enamel & acrylic on canvas, 56" x 52"

 

 

   

  

Jack Balas, 2023;
MIRACLE (#2459.1179)


Click on image for details

  

Jack Balas, 2023;THIS WAY (#2407)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

 

    Jack Balas, 2023
HOUSEPAINT (#2427)
Oil and enamel on canvas, 32X48 inches

 

 

 

 Jack Balas, 2023;
RETURN ADDRESS (#2428)
Oil and enamel on canvas, 32X48 inches
 

 

 

 

 

 

CROSSING (#2443, 2108, 1666, 55))
Oil and enamel on canvas, 40x48 inches

 

Jack Balas, 2023
WAYNE THIEBAUD DRAFTSMAN
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

From the MUSE/ MUSEUM series (click here for page)

  

CAMP SIGHT (# 458, 477, 2439)
Oil and enamel on canvas, 24x32 inches

  

I'D SAY WE'RE FUCKED (#2444)
India ink and acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

 

NEST (#2417)
Oil and enamel on canvas, 20x16 inches

xx 

JUST WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES TODAY'S HOMES
SO DIFFERENT, SO APPEALING?
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

FROM OUR 1ST CAMPOUT (#2447)
India ink and acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

 

   xxx CALL FOR ENTRIES
(#2362--2436) (revi8sed 2023)
Ink, oil & enamel on canvas,
32x48 inches

SEED (#2452)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 
   ZZZ

RESCUE (#2449)
Oil & enamel on canvas, 32x48 inches

Also #
60
94
244
409
515
593

 

WONDERLAND (#2445)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 
   GGG A TASK AS OLD AS THE WORLD (#2446)
Oil & enamel on canvas, 32x48 inches

MY BIRTHDAY (THIS YEAR HIT THE MARK) (#2453)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

 

IT WAS MY FIRST TIME MODELING (#2451)
India ink on paper, 30X22 inches

  

THE WINDUP, THE ITCH (#2422)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

INTERVIEW (#2441)
India ink, oil and acrylic on paper, 18x22 inches

  

BOWL OF BASKETBALLS (After Matisse) (#2434)
India ink and acrylic on paper, 18x22 inches

 

DUKS SKUD DUSK DUST (#2455, 1061)
Oil & enamel on canvas, 24x20 inches

 

 

GRADUATION (CLICK) (#2430)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text 

 

xxx

GRADUATION. I go every year. Join the trickle of people, then a river streaming into the big bowl of the football stadium at sunset, sit up in the stands surrounded by Moms and Dads and sisters and bros, grandparents, neighbors-you can feel their happiness, their joy. We listen to the speeches, watch the ceremony, hear the kids shout as they are awarded their degrees, the fireworks, and then the lights come on and the smoke clears and everyone immediately is in search of Their Kid, somewhere down on the field. They meet up on the ramps, in the halls, out on the quad. This is the best part, this is why I go. To see how happy these families are, proud, first generation grads especially, taking big group photos. The very first time I went there was a family of 14 people all lined up waiting for someone to come along and take their picture. That someone was me. Back then I didn't know how to work a cellphone camera, so I've prayed ever since that I didn't screw it up. They worked so hard. I think I go back every year looking for them. Maybe I will find them again. Or someone like them. YOU. This time I'm ready. Waiting. OK smile now. CLICK.

(Today is Fri. May 12, 2023)

xxx

  

NEXT UP (#2424)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#2429)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

A NEW SON DREAMING ON THE PLAIN (#2442)
Oil and enamel on canvas, 32x24 inches)

STRIPED (TIGER) (#2406)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

b

Jack Balas, 2023; BALM (AND IT IS VERY WARM) (#2435)
India ink on paper, 22 x 18 inches

Click on image for text

 

 

THE ACT OF GOD (#2448, 337); Oil & enamel on canvas, 32x48 inches

Click on image for text
. THE ACT OF GOD

Al walked into our tent naked one night at scout camp, said "HEY, SHINE YOUR FLASHLIGHT ON MY DICK! I'VE GOT A HARD-ON!" I was just out of sixth grade, Al the seventh, other guys the eighth. I'd never seen boys naked before but here the lifeguards were swimming bare-ass, and now this. He went off into another tent but those guys wouldn't let me in. For days I tried shining a flashlight on my dick, but nothing ever happened.

 

LOFT (#2413)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

THE BRIEF HISTORY OF NATURE (#2411)
Oil and enamel on canvas diptych, 28x44 inches overall

 

ISSUES & COMMENTARY (#2425)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

WE FILL EACH PAGE (#2426)
Oil and enamel on canvas, 20x16 inches

  

 

BULL ON THE ROOF (#2409)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text 

 

ANTITHESIS (THE NEW ASSISTANT) (#2421)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

xxx

 

REGINALD MARSH IS DRAWING ME (#2412)
(MUSE/ MUSEUM SERIES)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text 
So this guy Reginald Marsh is drawing me at Coney Island today while I flex and these people are gathered around to watch and somebody just took a photo and this is a drawing of the photo in a catalog of Marsh's paintings and drawings and 73 years after his drawing and theory doesn't get better than this. I SHOULD KNOW. I WAS THERE. TRUST ME.

 

IT'S MIDNIGHT AND I'M DRIVING A MOUSE OUT OF TOWN (#2416);
India ink & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text

x

 

IT'S MIDNIGHT AND I'M DRIVING A MOUSE
OUT OF TOWN

(a True Story...)


It's midnight and I'm driving a mouse out of town. I'd been hunting it in the house for days, ever since it poked its nose out from behind a pile of books, and tonight it's midnight and I'm reading and I hear scritch scratch coming from under the kitchen sink. Aha! I open the door and there it is in the garbage bag, trying to climb up the paper walls but I just fold it over and now the bag is on the front seat and I pick it up a few times and shake it to keep the little guy quiet.
I've read that if you want to let a mouse go, you have to take it at least two miles away or else it will find its way back, so here we are on County 10 headed east, and when I get to a good spot I turn the car around and get out with the bag and stand in the headlights, scenes going through my head of movies where the hostage is forced to stand in the lights before his demise, but I simply open the bag and the mouse high-tails it into the nearest ditch.
On my drive home I ponder how insane it all seems- to own a car and pay for insurance and maintenance and now gas to drive a mouse two miles out, but as the lights of town approach and vie for the warm coziness of my front seat on this otherwise cold October night, I consider too the sight of some particular stars rising huge and glorious over the horizon, Orion the Hunter, the giant with arm raised, poised to catch- or maybe poised to let go.

xx

  

 

SIX PACK, MIAMI (#2396)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for textBBB

GOOD FRIDAY, HONOLULU (#2419)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

GANG SHOWERS (#2391)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text 

IN TODAY'S NEWS (#2410)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

 

 

ON CUE (PROW) (PROWL) (#2415)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

xx

 

WHITEOUT (#2396) (In progress)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

KUHIO (#2398)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 
  

LOOK OUT (#2400)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches


 

PROLOGUE (#2393)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

THE NEW WORLD (#2401)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches
xx

 

WE DO NOT GIVE UP (#2397)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

xx

 

 

DOG DAY (#2404)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

xx

 

POSTER BOY (#2394)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text 

 

THIS IS NOT MY DOG (#2399)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text 

THE GULF STREAM (#2404)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

xx

 

PROLOGUE (#2393)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

xx

 

NO COMMENT (#2405)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

xx

 

Colorado


xx

 

LEGION (#2387)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text

SAYING YES (#2392)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text 

 

Fountain, Colorado

 

  

EMPIRE OF COURSE (#2387)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text

CHOIR (CHAIR) (#2382)
India ink on paper, 20x15 inches

 

Colorado


JB @ Paris Photo
Magazine intervention 2023 -- ArtForum 2012

xx

 

Tucson, AZ

 

Tucson, AZ

 

THE BRONZE ELK (#2388)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text 

  

Tucson, AZ

xx

   

Tucson, AZ

x

 

 

 

 

2022 works

OFFSTAGE THE NARRATOR'S VOICE RISES:
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH (#2385)
India ink, acrylic & gouache on paper, 22x30 inches

JB @ Petzel (#2383)
Magazine drawing -- ArtForum November 2022



A SUDDEN GUST OF SNOW AT WAIKIKI (FOR HOKUSAI) (#2369);
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches




Waikiki



 



SOME GUY'S DECALS (#2367);
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text

Some guy down the street has covered his car windows with decals-- for cities, countries, national parks, ski areas, brewpubs, whatever. I had a suitcase just like it growing up-- states I'd been to, or wanted to see, places, a real steamer trunk like from the movies. My reflection in the glass today made me think of it differently, though. I haven't see it in years.
(Sat. Nov. 12, 2022)
 

HONEY (TRUCK) (#2378)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 15x20 inches

 

 

MOBY DICK 2 (#2376)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text

PERPETUAL PIE (#2380)
India ink on paper, 15x20 inches

Click on image for text

 

THIS CLOUD (#2381)
India ink and acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text

 

Colorado

MY CROSSING GUARD (#2368);
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text

 


TEAM PHOTO 1 (#2375);
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text

 

Hawaii State Art Museum, Honolulu


 

 

ACE WAS JOGGING (#2373);
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text



OUT OF HAND (#2366);
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text



Ventura, CA

 



FIRST DAY BACK (#2357);
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

 

   

CENOTAPH (UNTIL THE NEXT GODDAMN TIME) (#2370);
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

IT WORKS BOTH WAYS (#2359);
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text

 

Tucson, AZ
 

 

 

 


CALL FOR ENTRIES (#2362--2436) (revised 2023)
Ink, oil & enamel on canvas, 32x48 inches

 

 

Farnsworth Museum
Rockland, Maine

YOU WERE MY FIRST (#2379)
India ink on paper, 15x20 inches

 

TODAY'S CHOICE: RED STRIPES OR U.S. MARINE AT WAIKIKI (#2299) India ink on paper, 22x30 inches
 

SO HONORED (#2300)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

MUSEUM PIECE (#2276)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches
 

 Text on right:

I am headed to Maine day after tomorrow at the height of autumn, to be in a show. Bates College is flying me out and putting me up and it's not the first time either- in Maine, Iowa, Texas, more. The first time I was on my own, sleeping in my car, climbing Katahdin, even met Andrew Wyeth.

If you told me way back then I'd be doing this all today I'da said Huh? You nuts? Where do I sign up? Some people say you need a roadmap, but Joseph Campbell said it best: Follow your bliss.

This dog followed me into this painting and at first I thought of a title "A Dog's Life," until I looked up the meaning. No Way. So much better is the Marine I met on the beach in Honolulu. He'd just spent four months at sea and now was on shore leave. He kept looking around and shaking his head, smiling and saying to himself "Livin' the life. Livin' the life." If he ever needs a dog I've got one in mind.

Today is (was) October 25 & 26, 2022.

 

  

HEADED TO MAINE (#2365)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text

 





NAVIGATION (#2360)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text

Tennis Court

 


ON APPROACH (#2361--2437) (revised 2023)
Oil, enamel & ink on canvas, 44x60 inches


  

THIS IS MY DAY JOB? (#2296)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

BIRTHDAY BOY (#2289)
India ink and oil on paper, 22x30 inches

XX

 

THE JUMPING CASTLE (#2295)
India ink and oil on paper, 22x30 inches
 

Click on image for text

 

Berthoud, Colorado

 

XX

 

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER (#2290)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

XX

 

 

Colorado

 

THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES (#2297)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

Monday was laundry day next door to where I lived in college: sheets and towels and whatnot put out like clockwork, flapping in the breeze from an Andrew Wyeth painting in the side yard of an Edward Hopper house. That view from my window was the best watercolor I ever did in those days. On the other side was a bunch of college kids like me, and I could look down into their yard too. They liked to sit out, but they didn't seem to do much laundry ever.

 

 

LAUNDRY DAY (#2287)
India ink and oil on paper, 22x30 inches.

Click on image for text

CENOTAPH (UNTIL THE NEXT GODDAMN TIME)
(#2370); India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

THESE ARE THE DAYS (#2279)
India ink and oil on paper, 30x22 inches

CHRIS BURDEN: WHAT MY DAD GAVE ME (#2298)
India ink and oil on paper, 30x22 inches

FROM THE MUSE / MUSEUM SERIES (click here for page)

  

START (#2285)
India ink and oil on paper, 30x22 inches

  

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT (#2284)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches

 

ON NO DAY DOES THE PIER DISAPPOINT (#2358);
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

 

Tucson, AZ


OUR VISIT TO TOLEDO (i.e. FRANCISCO) (#2261)
India ink, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

 


BRANDON ON THE GYM BARS (#2282)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text

 

THE DRIBBLE (#2243)
India ink, watercolor & gouache on paper, 30x22 inches
 

EVENING WOULD KNOW MY REPLY (#2277); (Revised 2023)
oil and enamel on canvas, 44x76 inches

xxx

TALISMAN (TELL THE WORLD) (#2275)
India ink, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Untitled (Pie) (#2264)
India ink & gouache on paper, 10x12 inches

  

AMAZING (#2260)
India ink, gouache & watercolor on paper, 19x15 inches

WE HOLD THE RIVER (#2258)
India ink, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Tucson, AZ

 

HUCK AND JIM SEZ: WE READ ABOUT A RIVER,
AND WE HEARD ABOUT A RAFT; (#2257)
India ink, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches


WE BUILD THIS (#2249)
India ink, watercolor & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

 

AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE (#2256)
India ink, watercolor, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches
xxx

America

 

 
POETS WILL BE NAMED (#2270)
oil and enamel on canvas,
46x42 inches

 

 xx  
SHALL
(#2273--464)
oil and enamel on canvas,
40x48 inches

Untitled (MAST) (#2263)
India ink on paper, 10x12 inches

Washington D.C.

    

PINK AND BROWN (#2242)
India ink, watercolor & gouache on paper, 30x22 inches

Untitled (#2266)
India ink on paper, 12x9 inches

 

 

EDWARD HOPPER: HOUSE BY THE RAILROAD (#2271)
India ink & gouache on paper, 30x23 inches
from the series MUSE/ MUSEUM

 

IN THE SISTINE... (#2253)
India ink, watercolor, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text

 

Tucson, AZ

 z

BEYOND THE PAIL (#2238)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

  

STRINGER (#2259)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches


Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine
Self-portrait with Andrew Wyeth's
"Portrait of Young Swede"

 

 

THE NEW COLOSSUS, STILL (#2248)
India ink, watercolor & gouache on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text

 

AMAZING (#2260)
India ink, gouache & watercolor on paper, 19x15 inches

  

MORNING SURF (#2244)
India ink, watercolor & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

 

WRITE OF SPRING (#2240)
India ink & gouache on paper, 22x30 inches

 

DUST (#2227)
India ink, watercolor & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Berthoud, Colorado

 

GUSHER (#2236)
India ink, watercolor & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

   

SEND FOR NO INFORMATION (#2231)
India ink, watercolor & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

  

IT'S ALL CONNECTED (#2232)
India ink, watercolor & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text
 
SOME DAYS (#2269);
oil and enamel on canvas, 46x42 inches

Text:
Some days I just want to paint but I don't know what. So I just start. Somedays it can be a sky. Today it's the ocean. Some days I add something, then I can figure it out. I'm glad there's a lot of some days.

 

  

HOT HOUSE (#2221)
India ink, watercolor & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

Click on image for text

 

Tucson, AZ

 

WHEN SO LATE BECOMES SO EARLY (#2241)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

 

Untitled (#2267)
India ink on paper, 11.5 x 9 inches

HORSE POWER (A Better Metaphor Could Not Be Had) (#2251)
India ink, watercolor, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

ALPHA (#2252)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

 

MOON SHOT (#2228)
India ink, watercolor & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

America

 

AND WITH AN ESSAY BY SOMEBODY ON SOMETHING (#2219); India ink & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

   

WALLPAPER FOR BOYS (#2234)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 22X30 inches

     

MOUNTAIN TIME (#2239)
India ink, watercolor & gouache on paper, 30x22 inches

 

MORNING SURF (#2244)
India ink, watercolor & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

x

FRIDAY, 10 P.M. (#2224)
India ink, & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

b

WAIT ROOM (#2215)
India ink on paper, 22x30 inches


Weightroom


THE PRAYER (#2230)
India ink & watercolor on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text

OUR NEW FISHING BUDDY (#2229)
India ink, gouache & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

  

ON THE ROAD (#2218)
India ink, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

 

STILL LIFE WITH APPLES AND MEXICAN TIN
CHICKEN (#2214)
India inK on paper, 19x15 inches

   

HOOK (#2247)
India ink, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22x30 inches

 

NIGHT GAME (#2220)
India ink, gouache & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

Click on image for text

ArtForum

 zzz 

  

   AND WITH AN ESSAY BY SOMEBODY ON SOMETHING (#2219); India ink & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

BLUE AND YELLOW (For Ukraine) (#2254)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

FLAG (#2216)
India ink, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22X30 inches

 

AND TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT IT (A TRUE STORY) (#2235)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

 

  

I WANT TO TELL YOU A STORY (#2226)
India ink on paper, 30x22 inches

zzz

BETA (#2255)
India ink & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

LANDSCAPE WITH TREE AND BASKETBALLS (#2222)
India ink, gouache & acrylic on paper, 22X30 inches

 

 

   

 

 

 

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