Alekasander Balos is a contemporary Polish artist specializing in oil painting. He was born in 1970 in Gliwice, Poland, but since 1989 he lives and works in the USA, in Shasta, California.

As a child he studied art under the guidance of his father Jan, a self-taught painter and sculptor, so from an early age, his artistic activities were fully supported by both parents. In 1989, at the age of eighteen, Balos left Poland for the United States, where his school teacher and part-time artist Cathy Guggliardi encouraged Alkasandr to enroll in art school. Balos then received a full scholarship to the University of Milwaukee Wisconsin, where he studied painting under philosophy professor Harry Rosin.

After completing his studies in 1995 and receiving his bachelor’s degree, Balos moved to Chicago to enroll in the School of Fine Arts, whose methods are based on the work of Jacques-Louis David. Figurative realism and portrait painting made up much of Balos’ work in the 1990s and early 2000s. Today, Balos uses the human figure to emphasize the peculiarities and show the shortcomings of human existence, without offering any solutions.

The narrative compositions of his paintings are intended to be interpreted independently by the viewer, only then will the paintings acquire their true temporal and subjective meaning. In 2005 the artist moved to Northern California, since then the subject matter of his works has expanded considerably and now includes more free methods of painting, including abstraction and various multimedia styles that help to express ideas and ideals of being through painting.

Alexander Balos was born in 1970 in Gliwice, Poland. His parents (Jan and Janina) were artists and sent the child to study painting at the Gliwice Art Center from an early age. The boy’s first lessons in oil painting were given to him by his father. In 1989, Alexander Balos traveled to the United States to study at St. Joseph’s High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin. There he met an artist, Cathy Gagliardi, who insisted that he attend art school.

Alexander Balos received a full scholarship to Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, where he studied contemporary painting with philosophy professor Harry Rosin. He received his BFA in 1995 and organized his first exhibition the same year. Shortly thereafter, Belos moved to Chicago to study in a program at the School of Representative Art, whose methods of teaching painting were based on the work of Jacques-Louis David. Alexander Belos studied with artists such as Bruno Surdo and Mike Celich, and at the same time he was granted U.S. citizenship. In 1998 the triptych “The Last Supper” was exhibited at the Anna Nathan Gallery in Chicago. Figurative realism and portrait painting made up much of Belos’ work in the 1990s and early 2000s. Belos’s work shows the human being by depicting various virtues and vices, without offering the viewer any obvious solution.

Since 1997, Belos’s work has been on view at the Anna Nathan Gallery in Chicago (the artist has had five solo exhibitions there in total). Since 2000, his paintings have been exhibited in galleries in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Paris, Utrecht and Barcelona.

In 2005, Balos moved to Northern California. The set of themes and ideas that the artist uses in the process of creating his works is constantly expanding to include experiments with abstract forms as well as a variety of multimedia methods and styles. Balos currently teaches drawing and painting at his own atelier called ArtRoster in California. On April 1 of each year, the atelier presents forgeries of works by different masters as a joke.