The Artistic Evolution of Carel Balth
Carel Balth was a Dutch painter, photographer, new media artist, collagist, multimedia artist, and light artist. Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, he lived and worked in both the Netherlands and Italy. His career saw him working regularly from a studio in White Street, New York, between 1987 and 1999. Throughout his professional life, which spanned from 1959 to 2010, Balth explored the intersections between abstract photography, painting, and new media, focusing on themes of light, time, space, and movement.
His diverse body of work includes several distinct groups of works:
Techniques and Mediums
Balth utilized a wide array of techniques to investigate light and time. In his Light Objects, he used crystal-clear plexiglass and metal bands to create compositions of light and shadow on walls. His Light Photo Works involved photographing architectural forms by day and night to connect daylight with artificial light. In his Polaroid Paintings, he edited photos with his nails during the development process. Later, he experimented with lasers in his Laser Paintings, using the technology to paint on canvas. From 2001 until 2019, he produced Videowatercolors, which combined different moments from digital video into single prints to create painterly images.
