Oleksandr Balbyshev


Oleksandr Balbyshev is a contemporary Ukrainian artist who works primarily in oil paint on canvas and experiments with found objects. Oleksandr's art has two very different main directions, each representing the essential side of his identity.

Firstly, Oleksandr, as open gay, using art practices, tries to understand the nature of male identity and the stigma of the male nude, explore the slippage of masculinity, and redefine what it means to be male. Oleksandr makes vivid oil paintings, like protest posters, with many quotes from art history. His works don't hide their homoeroticism and challenge the prevailing outdated morality that rejects male nudity.

Secondly, as a Ukrainian, Oleksandr reinterprets iconic symbols of the USSR, the terrorist empire that occupied his motherland for seven decades. The artist tries to overcome the traumatic historical experience of his country by transforming the sinister shards of the USSR, including old portraits of Lenin and other Soviet leaders, into something funny and not scary.

Oleksandr ultimately achieves an artistic aesthetic marked by powerful pops of color, mystical surrealist elements, kitsch decorative qualities, and absurd aspects reminiscent of Dadaism.

balbyshev

LATEST ARTWORKS

Tiger in the Grass (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Tiger in the Grass (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 75 x 100 cm | 29.5 x 39.4 inch

$3,500
Martyr of Desire (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Martyr of Desire (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 90 x 120 cm | 35.4 x 47.2 inch

$3,900
Pixels (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Pixels (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 35 x 25 cm | 13.8 x 9.8 inch

$400 $490
Guy with Color Spots #2 (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Guy with Color Spots #2 (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 68 x 68 cm | 26.7 x 26.7  inch

$1,200 $1,800
Guy with Color Spots #1 (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Guy with Color Spots #1 (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 68 x 68 cm | 26.7 x 26.7  inch

$1,200 $1,800
Red Guy with Color Spots (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Red Guy with Color Spots (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 65 x 90 cm | 25.6 x 35.4 inch

$2,400
Hands of God Nebula (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Hands of God Nebula (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 100 x 120 cm | 39.4 x 47.2 inch

$4,500
Horns (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Horns (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 50 x 70 cm | 19.7 x 27.6 inch

$2,500
Nude on an Abstract Background (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Nude on an Abstract Background (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 95 x 120 cm | 37.4 x 47.2 inch

$4,000
Resting Minotaur (Study) (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Resting Minotaur (Study) (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 45 x 60 cm | 17.7 x 23.6 inch

$1,400 $2,200
Puppy Play (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Puppy Play (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 100 x 140 cm | 39.4 x 55.1 inch

$6,500
Sea Sunset (2024) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Sea Sunset (2024)

Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 80 x 60 cm | 31.5 x 23.6 inch

$2,200
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