Frank Balaam's current show at Copper Mine Picture Cafe showcases work done from the last several years. The images, from nature, were developed through a combined approach, using both plein-air techniques and studio/photographic studies. Elements of Mr. Balaam's style are evident in the intelligent use of color and masterful control of line. What might not be evident to casual observer is the almost herculean effort it must have taken to create the series.... Mr. Balaam suffered a devastating loss several years ago when a large building fire in downtown Globe, Arizona destroyed his studio and gallery.
In the oil painting "Lake Through the Trees," one sees in the foreground four thick verticle lines that are the trunks of the closest trees, they are partially overlapped by golden leaf shapes to the bottom right. Their thickness, dark value, and spacial coverage go to create an initial engagement for the beholder. As one looks closer at the trunk's interior space, one finds an assortment of colorful lines that become more prominant as the eye adjusts to the collection of colors with like dark values. The effect combines a pointalist approach with an impressionist sensitivity. Branches, in varying thicknesses, extend off each trunk and reach out in all directions; as the landscape recedes within the pictorial space, these branches and leaves shift values and color to create an atmospheric perspective. Partially covered by the layers of leaves, stems, and tree trunks, on the left side of the canvas, is a lake which slowly comes into view; its turquoise shore displays the shadows of the mountain behind it, while the orange tinted skyline is reflected in the lake's body.
In the painting, the vertical repetition of the closest trees create a well balanced unity. Of those, one trunk on the right side leans right, while the linear trunks on the left form a large triangle as they lean toward each other. In addition, the far left trunk divides into two branches, forming a V at the junction. As the eye wanders past the trunks through the folage it searches for the clearest view of the distant scene, which it finds, right above the V formed branches at the left. Just a little off center, in this view of the lake, a dark leaf shape interupts a complete sighting one final time, but this tension of the blocked view is again relieved when the smallest of openings appears on the leafs surface.
The anthropomorphic branches frame the entry way into the life sustaining water of the lake; inside this enteryway the darkness of the leaf's space is pierced by the gift of life, i.e., the lake's seed. There is a feeling of relief and wanderment of nature's beauty and harmony, which, in turn, is balanced by the ever so sublime shape of the trickster raven.
Jim Coates
FRANK BALAAM just completed, for the second time, a large 9x26 foot mural entitled "Memory Wall," for the Cobra Valley Community Hospital. The first mural, which was completely finished and ready to install, was destroyed by a fire that also destroyed over 800 of his works.