Paul Balmer

Paul Balmer is an internationally represented painter who grew up in South Africa and moved to Australia at the age of 17. As a student, he pulled from his experiences on both continents. The primitive wood carvings and tribal masks of Africa. Aboriginal paintings and the warm, ruddy colors of the Australian landscape. The earthy tones and emotional spectrum of dawn and dusk continue to permeate his color schemes, while the rough, sanded surfaces, mark making, and etchings evoke a sense of primal naiveté. Balmer’s bold canvases and textural use of paint play between the lines of direct representation. Art critic David Cleveland describes Balmer as, “a classic case of an artist seemingly born to his craft,” and writes evocatively of Balmer’s style. “Paul Balmer works diligently with obsessive attention and then lets go. The right balance requires a never-ending struggle between the consummate craftsman with full control of his materials and the experimentalist compelled to take risks.”