(Up) Large Head on Painted Pedestal, 2007, 225x98x121.5 cm. (Down Left) Figure and Small Toy Car, 2007, Back 200x200x28 cm, Sculpture 179x40x29.5 cm. (Down Right) Pilot, 2007, 138.5x100x26 cm. The Stephan Balkenhol solo exhibition runs from April 14 to May 19 at the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery.

Stephan Balkenhol (born 1957) is Germany’s most representative contemporary sculptor, having studied under minimalist artist Ullrich Ruckriem (at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts from 1976 to 1982). Deeply influenced by his mentor’s rigorous abstract structures, he is famous for his distinctive figurative sculptures. Balkenhol uses a relative realism to bring figures to life from single blocks of wood using traditional, refined techniques. Most are full-body statues of young men and women, painted with vivid colors. In this symbolic manner, they retain a non-narrative function, giving people a friendly impression in their interaction with objects.

Clearly reflecting the artist’s diverse intellectual and cultural references—particularly Egyptian, Greek, and classical sculpture—and his fascination with classical themes such as main figures, heads, animals, and landscapes, he presents excellent spatial scenes and modern imagery through ingenious installations that synthesize tradition and modernity, constructing a new postmodern aesthetics. The artist says, “My sculptures do not tell stories; they are sealed in mystery. I have no right to reveal it, but wait for the audience to uncover this veil themselves.”