He was born in Tamil Nadu. Early on in life, A. Balasubramaniam had to repeatedly knock at the door of the Government Arts College in Chennai before he could gain entrance into the formalised process of art education. He says he was largely inspired by the solitary forays he made to the local public library in Chennai, where he studied the images created by American artists.He went on to study printmaking at EPW Edinburgh, UK and Austria.

As is apparent, his works are much more diverse to be labelled or put into neat niche slots. But what the artist is really known for is his rather unusual prints that have a shine rendered by metal dust. They are small and have a lot of numbers, arrows and such elements that seem to depict passage of time. Four holograms in the shape and size of a compact disc are grouped together, and when seen from different positions, reflect shapes in various sizes and colours. Bala has even depicted time or cycle of life through changes in the moon using a hologram silkscreen.

In 1997-98, what Bala calls his architectural period, he did prints that reflect an urban environment of steel trusses and spiral staircases.  Bala based himself in complete isolation in a small village in the Austrian Alps. In the works he created from these snowy mountain retreat, he used the simplest materials available at the local stationery shop: tiny strips, rectangles and round sticky labels, which he used to produce his white upon white graded compositions. "My attention was focused on the experience of living in isolation in a small village, and my response to the snowy countryside. The drawings from this period reflect the austere beauty of an all white landscape," he says.

Bala insists that he cannot name any one person who has influenced his art. I do not want to say that I have been influenced by any particular art or trend like Indians folk art," he adds.

A. Balasubramaniam spends his time between UK, Austria and Chennai, when he is not globehopping.