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 His works don't hide their homoeroticism and challenge the prevailing outdated morality that rejects male nudity.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.

Contemporary Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Balbyshev in the studio

LATEST ARTWORKS

Amor (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Amor (2023)
Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 90 x 70 cm | 35.4 x 27.6 inch
$4,710
Blue Guy (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Blue Guy (2023)
Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 70 x 90 cm | 27.6 x 35.4 inch
$3,200
Pride Angel (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Pride Angel (2023)
Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 65 x 120 cm | 25.6 x 47.2 inch
$3,750
Nude with a Flower Face (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Nude with a Flower Face (2023)
Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 80 x 105 cm | 31.5 x 41.3 inch
$3,380
Yellow Pond (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Yellow Pond (2023)
Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 90 x 90 cm.| 35.4 x 35.4  inch.
$3,500
Bunny Boy (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Bunny Boy (2023)
Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 75 x 55 cm | 29.5 x 21.6 inch
$2,500
Minotaur (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Minotaur (2023)

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

$4,700
Guy with Closed Eyes (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Guy with Closed Eyes (2023)
Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 93 x 93 cm | 31.5 x 31.5 inch
$3,900
Nude in the Grand Canyon (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Nude in the Grand Canyon (2023)

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Size: 85 x 125 cm | 33.4 x 49.2 inch


$4,500
Recycled Lenin #3 (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Recycled Lenin #3 (2023)
Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 80  x 60 x 2.5 cm | 31.5 x 23.6 x 1 inch
$900
Recycled Lenin #1 (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Recycled Lenin #1 (2023)
Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 116 x 96 x 6 cm | 45.6 x 37.7 x 2.3 inch
$2,700
Recycled Lenin #2 (2023) | Oleksandr Balbyshev
Recycled Lenin #2 (2023)
Painting, Oil on Canvas 
Size: 104 x 84,5 x 5 cm | 40.9 x 33.2 x 1.9 inch
$1,700
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