Baltasar Durrbach  - Painter of the land of myth

Baltasar was born in Provence, grew up in Provence, works in Provence, and lives in Provence.  His parents were artists, and he grew up surrounded by art.  He lives and works in an ancient stone house, in the middle of a vineyard.  When not painting, he works in his vegetable garden, alongside his family.

His painting is influenced by Cubism and also by Conceptualism.  He transcribes the eternal stories of life and death, of light and dark, and of his land of mythical Provence, into colours, shapes, and forms.

As is in the nature of Conceptualism, his work address questions and concepts which are at the centre of human experience, and which can best be addressed by art, over language.  His work is his life.  The paintings speak for themselves.

Provence

The Rhône descends to the sea.  Through alpine valleys, crowded with trees, flowering in spring, fruiting in summer.

The river continues.  Winding past waiting cities.  Barges pass through its locks, carrying logs and coals.  On its either side are the limestone hills of the Cevennes and the Alpilles.  Places of oak and pine, nestled in crags.   The white stone hills flatten.  To the river’s plain.  There, ploughed soil leaves lines.  Egrets circle.  Bulls are caught on swords.  Trees watch the river.  Windows watch all. 

In Marseille, ships bring canvas, gum, and pigments, in from the orient.  Ready to be ground into inks, and ideas.  Across Provence, villages perch on the feet of mountains.  Below them sits the sea.  Blue in the winter sun.  Cool in the summer heat.  Always an horizon’s line.

This land is older than Rome.  Painted signs are found in caves, and since then, peoples’ eyes have watched, and dreamed, and imagined, of life and of light.  

This is a land of shape, of colour, and of stories.  Some cannot be explained in only words.  Some need a line on a canvas, to describe ideas, anchored in colours.