Balan Nambiar (born 12 November 1937 in Kannapuram) is an Indian painter, sculptor, enamellist, photographer and an academic researcher.

[6] He produced enamel paintings,[7][8] having learned the technique from Paolo De Poli of Padua, Italy.

Balan Nambiar has extensively studied, photographed and documented hundreds of ritual performances and art forms of the Indian west coast as Teyyam and Bhuta.

[15] He received awards both for creative works and academic research: India National Award in 1981 and Karnataka State Award in 1980 of Lalit Kala Academy (National Academy of Fine Arts) for his sculptures, Senior Fellowship of the India Ministry of Culture in 1982–83 and Nehru Fellowship of Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund in 1983–85[16] for academic research, Academy Fellowship of the Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy in 2005 for creative works,[17] Pravasi Kalaratna Fellowship of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi in 2013 for painting.

[19] National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore held the retrospective of six decades of work by Nambiar in February 2018, which was curated by Sadanand Menon [1] He has been chairman of the Lalit Kala Academi, New Delhi,[20] member of the General Council of Lalit Kala Academy,[21] member of the Central Advisory Board on Culture, India.