After completing his secondary education at Frații Buzești High School in Craiova in 1950, he attended the Nicolae Grigorescu Fine Arts Institute in Bucharest, graduating in 1955.

[citation needed] In December 2000 he was awarded by President Emil Constantinescu the National Order of Merit, Commander rank.

[3] In June 2005, Bălașa sued the French newspaper Le Monde for defamation after the paper reproduced a propaganda painting by another painter, claiming it was one of his.

[5] He died in 2008 from lung cancer at Sfânta Maria Hospital in Bucharest[2] and was buried at Eternitatea Cemetery in Iași.

These include 19 murals, covering approximately 270 m2 (2,900 sq ft), which decorate the interior of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași: Bălașa used the image of Mihai Eminescu depicted in the nearby statue to paint the fresco in the university lobby, identifying the poet with the hero of Luceafărul.