Balthazar Kaplan

Born in 1965 in Paris. Self-taught artist. I live in Rennes (Brittany, France)

In 1986, I created with Bathelemy Schwartz the revue Dorénavant, one of the first avant-garde revue of comics theory: this revue (1986 – 1988) proposed a new definition of the comic strip as a simple juxtaposition of pictures. Also, were included with the comics some paintings of Klee, Kandinsky or Picasso. This statement was also a way to create a new connection between comics and paintings: what was at stake then, was not the graphics (like for Lichtenstein or Combas) but the compartmentalisation of the canvas. Thanks to this, the painting would find again its very old and deep temptation: the illusion of time, which can create a narrative or a musical dimension.
The French comics’ world reacted sometimes with curiosity but most of the time with rejection. The art world ignored it.
From 1988 to 2006, I gave up painting and drawing and rather liked to write novels and essays.
From 2006, a new generation of comics’ authors discovered again the revue Dorénavant. Some books and articles have been published about it. The website Du9 put online the whole revue
At the same period, I decided to get back to drawing and painting.
In 2018, I showed for t...

I'm a self-taught artist.
I have a master of french literature and am a former student from the "grande école" : Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris.
All my paintigs habe been influenced by my literary culture.

- Next exhibit : Elan d'Art in Montepellier, may 2021
- Exhibit at the YIA (Young International Artfair) in Paris, rue de Rivoli, november 2019
- "Songes en case", exhibit in Le Lavoir, Rennes, France june-july 2018