The Poetry of Light
Exhibition of Carel Balth in Museum EICAS on Dutch National Television – October 2024: Nu te Zien! – Carel Balth on NPO Start:
Carel Balth (1939-2019) was a visual artist, based in The Netherlands, but also working regularly from his studio in New York and Italy. The main themes in his oeuvre are light, time and space.
In the late 1960s he started with the conceptual abstract Light Objects, made of crystal clear plexiglass, sometimes combined with metal bands. By cutting into the material and then projecting artificial light onto the object, he created special light- and shadow lines and forms on the wall, thus forming a new composition.
He had several exhibitions at the famous avant-garde Galerie Swart in Amsterdam (Ad Dekkers, Lucio Fontana, François Morellet).
Abstract Photography
Balth has since then always been researching new ways of perception, by using new media, abstract photography or video stills, to come to a new form of painting. The materials he worked with varied, from vinyl to Polaroid photography and laser painting. Always trying to get closer to the essence of seeing. An essential instrument for him was the straight line, that divides and connects at the same time.
Videowatercolors
From 2000 until his death in 2019 he made what he called Videowatercolors. Using video films of nature or culture, often made close to his own studio, he combined images to create a new digital abstract reality.
Career
Over the years Balth has had many solo – and group exhibitions around the world, from The Henry Art Gallery in Seattle (2011) to Het Gemeentemuseum (now Kunstmuseum) in The Hague (2000), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (1974) and Museum Folkwang in Essen (1974, 1986). Several books and articles on his work were published.
Video Interview
In “The Edge of Vision” interview series, Carel Balth explains the process behind his works Moving IV, Madrid V and Reflections, and how he transforms digital video images to a new medium. The exhibition The Edge of Vision, The rise of abstraction in photography of the Aperture Foundation travelled several museums in the United States between 2009 and 2013.
