Oleksandr Balbyshev began his career working in architecture and design, but a few years into his career he lost his job as his home country of Ukraine entered a serious financial crisis. After losing his job he decided to change his career path entirely and became an artist. Now, Balbyshev has created a global name for himself in the art world, renowned for his specialist themes of male sexuality and sensuality.

He wants the viewer to observe his art and see the realm of ideas that make up his work, beyond the faces and bodies of a human. Instead, he hopes the viewer will see visions of worlds within worlds that show us an image of ourselves whilst highlighting that there is more to us than we know.

Another common theme in his work is the modification of old Soviet-era portraits of Lenin where he paints on top of old portraits by cutting the canvases, dripping paint on them or glueing them in a chaotic manner that works to erase the propaganda and ideological meaning of the image.

His paintings are in private collections in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Croatia, South Africa, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Mexico, and Japan.