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Stephan Balkenhol |
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Installation view Tripod man, 2011, poplar wood, 217x65x100 cm Installationview 2011 Akinci Woman with green (detail), 2011, wawa, 169x31x26 cm Man in red suit (detail) , 2011, wawa, 169 x 31 x 26 cm Head (woman), 2011, wawa wood, 38x24,5x20 cm Head (man), 2011, wawa, 39 x 24,5 x 20 cm Head (woman), 2011, wawa, 39 x 24,5 x 20 cm Head (woman) 2011, wawa wood, 38x 24,5 x 26 cm Head (man), 2011, wawa, 39 x 24,5 x 20 cm Relief of woman with white dress, 2011, poplar, 120x100x12 cm Relief of man with pink tie, 2011 poplar, 120x100x12 cm Small relief man, 2011, wawa, 29,5 x 30 x 4,5 cm
Small relief woman, 2011, wawa, 33,5 x 31 x 4,5 cm
%202011%20Akinci.jpg "Installation view Tripod man, 2011, poplar wood, 217x65x100 cm")
Installation view Tripod man, 2011, poplar wood, 217x65x100 cm
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Stephan
Balkenhol’s (1957, Fritzlar, Germany) sculptures of men and women,
mostly carved out of one massive block of wood with polychrome surfaces,
are worldwide known and appreciated. His figures are a kind of
twenty-first century “everyman” – neither idealized nor individualized.
A critic once described his ‘standing man’ as ‘the type of man you would
never notice in a crowd.”
They
can be considered as archetypes of the human figure, as they seem to
copy the human uniformity. Their poses can easily be mistaken for a
viewer looking at them in a museum or gallery. There is no pathos
speaking out of their gestures or expressions. Balkenhol’s figures look
almost alive, they look almost as somebody we know. Their gaze seems to
be fixed to the near as well as to the far spot beyond reality. They do
not have a specific expression though they have something which goes
beyond that. As Balkenhol himself comments his figures are ”above all”
“beautiful, silent, lively”. They “say a lot and nothing”.
Balkenhol’s sculptures are lodged in the temporal and stylistic
continuity that extends from ancient Egypt through medieval polychrome
wood statuary to Renaissance portraiture. At the same time Balkenhol’s
work refers to principles of minimal art, and one may very well see it
as a heritage of Ulrich Rückriem’s teaching.
StephanBalkenhol
has exhibited widely in Europe and the United States, including the
Musee de Grenoble, France (2010), Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2009),
Staatsliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden Germany (2006), Museum der Moderne,
Salzbourg, Austria (2006), The National Museum of Contemporary Art,
Osaka, Japan (2005), Sprengler Museum, Hannover, Germany (2003), Fries
Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands (2001), C.G.A.C. Santiago de Compostela,
Spain (2001), The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C., USA (1995).
Balkenhol attended the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg and was
taught by Ulrich Rückriem.
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%202011%20Akinci.jpg "Installation view Tripod man, 2011, poplar wood, 217x65x100 cm")
%202011,%20Akinci.jpg "Installationview 2011 Akinci")
,%202011,%20wawa,%20169%20x%2031%20x%2026.jpg "Woman with green (detail), 2011, wawa, 169x31x26 cm")
%20,%202011,%20wawa,%20169%20x%2031%20x%2026%20cm.jpg "Man in red suit (detail) , 2011, wawa, 169 x 31 x 26 cm")
,2011,%20wawa,%2038%20x%2024,5%20x%2020%20cm.jpg "Head (woman), 2011, wawa wood, 38x24,5x20 cm")
,%202011,%20poplar,%20120%20x%20100%20x%2012%20cm.jpg "Relief of woman with white dress, 2011, poplar, 120x100x12 cm")
,%202011,%20poplar,%20120%20x%20100%20x12%20cm.jpg "Relief of man with pink tie, 2011 poplar, 120x100x12 cm")
