Jules de Balincourt

I did not until recently really take a closer look at the painting on the cover of Katharine Harmon's "The Map as Art". I've been toying with the idea of doing a map of the U.S. and I finally really took notice of this painting:

I have been, throughout this process of studying and painting maps, struggled to justify creating 'representations' of the world map. I feel like I have to over-emphasize the aesthetic qualities of the boundaries and the shapes, otherwise why wouldn't I just have made it accurate, or to scale? Frankly, besides being tedious, I think it would be a boring image to create. We are all aware of what an accurate projection of a map looks like- I want to take the image and appreciate it for it's visual qualities, rather than always it's symbolic or political qualities. I think De Balincourt achieves that, in that his works are visually stunning- however he does accrue some criticism and question as to their ultimate meaning. 

Megan Ratner praises De Balincourt's colors:  

De Balincourt’s Crayola-by-way-of-Vegas palette (created by taping off sections, spray-painting or stencilling, scraping and scratching) flaunt protean surfaces, highlighting a mastery of colour and shape. He thrives on detail, embedding his compositions with partially obscured figures and objects, the game-board proportions evocative of Lego and electric train sets.

She ends with a bit of a scathing criticism of the artist's stated purpose:

Simply making reference to survival, or showing ‘us’ and ‘them’ as a questionable construct, is hardly startling. Such repeated literalness keeps De Balincourt’s work bobbing well above the sinister depths he seeks to plumb. The question as to whether his ideas will catch up with his sophisticated process remains open.

Robert Mars makes a stab at the artist's contextual reasons for stylizing maps:

 De Balincourt uses American maps reinvented for his own comical New World Order. States are represented by bright planes of color but without any real context. His maps have political intention and commentary. Some of the maps act as graphs for imaginary data of financial and political party affiliation. In the end, his visual sense is perfect. His color palette and compositions add to his story.

Here are some more of his maps: 

I don't know why he flipped China on it's eastern border, but it sure had me confused the first time I looked at it. 


I feel like I've stumbled across someone who has already done what I was setting out to do to a degree. It's a funny feeling. Affirming in one way, disappointing in another.  It might be less of a thrill for me now. De Balincourt's work is simply beautiful; his pallet and shapes. I can use this as an aspiration of sorts.