ArtistsNetwork.com 67AFTER WORKING FOR SEVERAL YEARS IN ILLUSTRATION AND
advertising, Paul Balmer was building a name as an oil
painter. One day, he wasn’t happy with a particular paint-
ing, so he decided to take a disc sander to it, sand away the
paint and start again. Before all the paint was gone, he
noticed something. “The sanding made the painting look
interesting, and I was surprised at the colors and textures
that came through,” Balmer says. He decided to do more
experimenting with power tools and oil paint, and ended
up developing a style all his own.
Balmer, who lived in New York City at the time, applied
his sanding, etching and layering techniques to cityscapes.
He used a Dremel tool to etch lines and a sander to remove
layers of dry oil paint, revealing hidden colors. These meth-
ods helped him create paintings that reflect the textural
qualities of cities that are constantly being torn down and
built back up. His cityscapes also play with perspective. “I try
to get everything into the picture: the background, the river,
the sailboats and the buildings,” he says. To do so, some ele-
ments are flattened, others are three-dimensional, horizons
are shifted. See, for example, Over a Red River, pages 68–89.
Balmer’s style reflects his illustration background, but he
has always nurtured a passion for making things. Growing
up in South Africa, with no television, his imagination was
stoked by serials on the radio. He loved to draw and to build
things, like toothpick dinosaurs and giant sharks made out
of bamboo. He once won a “paint on anything” contest by
painting an American flag on an old phone. Later, after mov-
ing to Australia and studying fine art and graphic design,
he began work as a commercial artist. Ultimately, it was a
painting trip through Europe that inspired a return to oil
painting, and the artist eventually wound up in New York.Winemaker’s Table
oil on canvas, 32x72