Stephan Balkenhol's sculptures, carved from single wood blocks, and reliefs depict people, animals, and architectural scenes. His figures, "everyday man and woman", are devoid of any explanatory elements of individuality, expression, and attire. Yet they look lively, and seem both universally familiar and enigmatic, solitary, and distant. With works such as "Man with bucket on his head" (2007) Balkenhol combines ordinary objects in unexpected ways, adding playfulness and humor.
Balkenhol's artistic production of figurative sculptures grew out of the dominant trends of Minimalism and Conceptualism in the 1970s. On the other hand, there is history that goes back to 19 century, where sculptures were presented only as political monuments or iconography. Responding to these contexts, Balkenhol has continued his explorations of figurative sculptures that also embrace the elements of Minimalism. His approaches to depiction than explanation, and the expression for "reality and beauty", have created the poetic works that evoke various emotion, thoughts, and expressions of viewers.
Balkenhol's works do not convey specific narratives, but suggest his rigorous engagement in materials. Painted over the chisel marks and splinters, his sculptures are both delicate and sturdy, demonstrating that the artist emphasizes spontaneity. His work, consisting all of materials, process, and spaces, presents a series of the explorations of "being".
About the Artist
Stephan Balkenhol was born in 1957, in Fritzlar, Hessen, West Germany. He studied at Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste, Hamburg between 1976 and 1982. He now lives and works in Karlsruhe, Germany and Meisenthal, France. He has served as a professor of sculpture at Staatliche Kunstakademie in Karlsruhe since 1992.
His first exhibition in Japan, "Stephan Balkenhol: Sculptures und Reliefs", was held in 2005 at the National Museum of Art, Osaka and Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery. He is currently holding a solo exhibition at Musee de Grenoble (October 30th, 2010 to January 23rd, 2011, France). His major solo exhibitions at museums include Deichtorhallen Hamburg (2008-2009, Germany), Sprengel Museum (2003, Germany), and The Hirshhorn Museum (1995, Washington, DC). His major group exhibitions include Skulptur Projekte in Munster 1987 (curated by Kasper Konig, Germany), a touring exhibition "Post Human" (1992, curated by Jaffery Deitch), and The 1995 Carnegie International (Pittsburgh). Balkenhol also exhibits extensively at galleries worldwide, including Gladstone Gallery (New York), Stephen Friedman Gallery (London), and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (Paris). This is the second solo exhibition at Tomio Koyama Gallery.
