Stephan Balkenhol

STEPHAN BALKENHOL (Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany, 1957).
Untitled, 2007.
Woodcut, copy 43/48.
Signed, dated and justified by hand.
Measurements: 86 x 59,5 cm (print); 100,3 x 70,5 cm (paper).

Stephen Balkenhol's prints, drawings and paintings follow the same path as his sculptures, also focused on an expressive search for human forms stripped of individual attributes.

Renowned for his sculptures depicting the human form in different poses and positions, Stephan Balkenhol is a German sculptor. His work is transformed into a recognizable form with the use of a chisel. He attended from 1976 to 1982 the School of Fine Arts in Hamburg, under the direction of Ulrich Rückriem to whom he became a studio assistant in 1980. Balkenhol reacted to the minimalist and conceptual trends popular at the time, with mentors such as Nam June Paik and Sigmar Polke. His experience in these years would profoundly mark his later artistic practice. He received the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Foundation scholarship in 1983 and soon after began to work as a teacher at various art schools. Among his most important solo exhibitions in recent years are: Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal (1998), Sprengel Museum, Hannover (2003), National Museum of Contemporary Art, Osaka, and Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (2005), Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (in 2006 toured to Museum der Moderne Salzburg and MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg), Deichtorhallen Hamburg (2008/09), Musée de Grenoble (2010/11), Kunstmuseum Ravensburg (2014) and Moscow Museum of Modern Art (2016). He currently lives and works in Karlsruhe and Berlin, Germany, and Meisenthal, France.