Lot Essay
As a masterly example of Jules de Balincourt's uneasy investigations into the nature of human civilization, Blind Faith and Tunnel Vision is a powerful mixture of apocalyptic cityscape combined with an almost fairytale multi-colored rainbow to portray the artist's sense of unease at the apparently contradictory aspects of human nature. Painted in the years following the September 11th attacks, de Balincourt was intrigued by how the narrative of the event had shifted from horror of the destruction, to the resilience of human nature and the undeniable certainty that the highs and lows of human civilization would cause events like this to continue throughout history.
De Balincourt thrives on executing each of his canvases in meticulous detail, in the case of Blind Faith and Tunnel Vision he expertly paints the contents of buildings and offices that have been blown into the streets. His leaning telephone poles, sagging wires and even a weary pine tree are pulled, almost magnetically, to a point on the horizon from which radiates a dazzling kaleidoscope of colors which soars up to the heavens.
Jules de Balincourt's reputation as one of New York's fastest rising art stars has been founded upon a body of work that mines the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. Whether he is representing aspects of American history or purely imaginative scenarios, de Balincourt's extraordinary paintings are instilled with the indelible effects of emigrating as a child from France to California at the height of the conservative Reagan era. It was during this process of assimilating himself into a new country that he encountered the shattered ideals of the hippie era and developed a deep mistrust of authority. As a consequence, de Balincourt's work often explores the contradictory facets of the United States' socioeconomic structures.
De Balincourt thrives on executing each of his canvases in meticulous detail, in the case of Blind Faith and Tunnel Vision he expertly paints the contents of buildings and offices that have been blown into the streets. His leaning telephone poles, sagging wires and even a weary pine tree are pulled, almost magnetically, to a point on the horizon from which radiates a dazzling kaleidoscope of colors which soars up to the heavens.
Jules de Balincourt's reputation as one of New York's fastest rising art stars has been founded upon a body of work that mines the intersection of his personal history with the politics of industrial alienation. Whether he is representing aspects of American history or purely imaginative scenarios, de Balincourt's extraordinary paintings are instilled with the indelible effects of emigrating as a child from France to California at the height of the conservative Reagan era. It was during this process of assimilating himself into a new country that he encountered the shattered ideals of the hippie era and developed a deep mistrust of authority. As a consequence, de Balincourt's work often explores the contradictory facets of the United States' socioeconomic structures.