Stephan Balkenhol

In 1987, Stephan Balkenhol was first recognized for his wooden sculptures. Ten years later, the auction’s sculpture “Mann mit Hand im Hemd” was shown in the gallery Lars Bohman in Stockholm. With a soft roughness, Balkenhol chisels out men and women from large singular pieces of wood; reliefs, sculptures, full figures and portraits. There are obvious parallels to ancient marble sculptures, with the most obvious difference being that Balkenhol’s figures are dressed. For us Swedes, of course, there is the connection to the figures of the Döderhultarn by Axel Petersson. They have the material and everyday motif circuit in common, but Balkenhol works in a tighter and more stripped-down style. His wooden sculptures are rough and painted in bright colours. Balkenhol’s sculptures are also much larger, in some cases monumental. With traditional tools like hammers and chisels, seemingly ordinary men and women grow out of large singular wooden blocks, figures he himself refers to as ‘Everyman’. They wear everyday clothes and give no clues about social status, occupation or personality. Facial expression is always serious and neutral. This particular de-identification paradoxically enables an identification: they are none at all, and at the same time each of us. Balkenhol’s sculptures have been showcased in many institutions and public settings, attracting attention in cities such as Rome, London, Paris, Berlin and New York. He is represented at nearly 100 international institutions, including: Neue Pinakothek in Munich, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the National Museum of Art in Osaka, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin.. A solo exhibition of recent sculptures by Balkenhol opened at Stephen Friedman Gallery in January 2023. Other notable solo presentations include: ‘Stephan Balkenhol’, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany (2020–2021); ‘Stephan Balkenhol’, Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark (2020); ‘Le Prévu et l'Imprévu’, Palais d'Iéna, Paris, France (2020). Balkenhol is known to a Swedish audience through its two figures on stilts, six meters high, which since 2004 stand outside Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg.