Stephan Balkenhol was born in 1957 in Fritzlar / Hesse, Germany. He lives and works in Karlsruhe and Berlin, Germany, and Meisenthal, France.
“My sculptures don’t tell stories. There is something mysterious hidden in them. It is not my task to reveal it, but that of the viewer to discover it.” (Stephan Balkenhol)
Stephan Balkenhol is a sculptor in the strict sense of the word. He carves figurative motifs, representations of people and animals in wood, both as standing, three-dimensional sculptures and as two-dimensional relief plates. Stephan Balkenhol often combines his typical, so-called column figures with colored relief plates. In this way he tries to combine sculpture with painting and the possibilities of representation of this medium. Historically, the importance of Stephan Balkenhol lies in the fact that, especially in the succession of Conceptual and Minimal Art, he was able to harmonize a minimal formal language with figurative sculpture made of wood. Far removed from the prejudices that exist against traditional European woodcarving art and its supposed incompatibility with modern and contemporary art, Stephan Balkenhol has developed a very unique and inimitable oeuvre over the last three decades.
Many of his sculptures are also made of bronze.
Balkenhol’s sculptures are mostly anonymous figures, but also animals that reveal nothing of themselves, tell nothing, represent nothing. They are individual figures, also groups of figures and sculptural pictures designed as relief.
Stephan Balkenhol, who likes to place his sculptures in unusual places in public space, counteracts the tradition of the monument by rarely honoring rulers, heroes, or thinkers, but usually showing the average, banal, normal, and anonymous. His seemingly inconspicuous figures, which show no emotions, remain strangely absent, elusive, enigmatic and fictional. Neither their age can be concretely estimated, nor is a social position discernible.
By largely depriving them of a psychologizing dimension, Balkenhol’s figures are always also a mirror that can reflect the feelings, desires and hopes of the viewer.
Among the most important solo exhibitions of Stephan Balkenhol are Kunsthalle Emden, Germany (2018), Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Spain (2018), MMOMA – Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Russia (2016), the Fernet-Branca Foundation, Saint-Louis, France (May 2016), the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren, Germany (2015), the Landesgalerie Linz, Austria (2014-2015), the Kunstmuseum Ravensburg, Germany (2014), the St. Elisabethkirche in Kassel, Germany (2012), Musée de Grenoble, France (2010), Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany (2009), National Museum of Art Osaka, Japan (2005) and Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany (2003). In 2006-2007 an extensive exhibition of his works traveled from the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany, to the MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, Germany, and on to the Museum der Moderne Salzburg Mönchsberg, Austria.
Although Stephan Balkenhol is best known for his figurative wood sculptures, many of his monumental bronze sculptures are found in urban public spaces – in cities such as Berlin, Chicago, Johannesburg, Courtray, London, Paris and Salzburg. Sculptures by the internationally renowned artist can be found in important museum and private collections worldwide, including the M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, the New National Gallery in Berlin and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, USA.
In 2022, he was honoured by the American Friends of Museums in Israel. Balkenhol’s works can also be found in public spaces including der Mann mit Möwenkopf (Man with a Seagull Head) , Le Havre (2020); Mann mit Hochhaus (Man with Tower Block), Toronto (2019); Mann mit Füllhorn (Man with Cornucopia), Sneek (2018); Mann auf Seepferdchen (Man on a Seahorse), Waiblingen (2018); Mann mit Rose (Man with a Rose), Neuss (2017); Denkmal für Jean Moulin (Monument to Jean Moulin), Metz (2014); Denkmal für Richard Wagner (Monument to Richard Wagner), Leipzig (2013); Mann im Turm (Man in the Tower), Church of St. Elisabeth, Kassel (2012); Balanceakt (Balancing Act), Berlin (2009) and Sempre più …, Forum Romanum, Rome (2009); Sphaera, Salzburg (2007), Giraffenmann (Giraffe Man), Strasburg (2006); Four Large Figures, San Francisco (2005) and Man with Fish, Chicago (2000).
Soloshows:
2024
Museum Wiesbaden: „Stephan Balkenhol trifft Alte Meister“
2023
Stephan Balkenhol, Soloshow, Friday 20 January – Saturday 25 February 2023, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
2020
Stephan Balkenhol, Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark
Stephan Balkenhol, Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
Stephan Balkenhol. Le Prévu et l’Imprévu, Palais d’Iéna, Paris, France
2019
Stephan Balkenhol. Skulpturen und Bilder zum Tod, Museum für Sepulkralkultur, Kassel, Germany
Stephan Balkenhol, Le Portique, Le Havre, France
2018
Fabula, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Stephan Balkenhol, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga, Spain
Stephan Balkenhol, Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Stephan Balkenhol, Kunshalle Emden, Emden, Germany
2017
Neue Arbeiten, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2016
Stephan Balkenhol, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Palais Gogolevski, Moscow, Russia
Stephan Balkenhol and Philippe Cognée, Fondation Fernet-Branca, Saint-Louis, France
2015
New Sculptures, Akinci, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2014
Stephan Balkenhol, Kunstmuseum Ravensburg, Germany
Stephan Balkenhol, Landes Museum, Linz, Austria
Skulpturen, Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Wuppertal, Germany
2013
Universe, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Inauguration of the Wagner Memorial Sculpture, Leipzig, Germany
Big Head Column, Peggy Guggenheim Colletion, Venice, Italy
Stephan Balkenhol, Galerie des Wetzlarer Kunstvereins, Wetzlarer, Germany
Sotheby’s, Beyond Limits: A Selling Exhibition, Chatsworth, Derbyshire, UK
2012
Stephan Balkenhol in St. Elizabeth, St. Elizabeth Church, Kassel, Germany
A Sign in the Forum of Caesar: Stephan Balkenhol more and more, Valentina Bonomo Gallery, Rome, Italy
2011
Stephan Balkenhol, Kunstforum Wuerth, Turnout, Belgium
Stephan Balkenhol, Tomo Koyama Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
Stephan Balkenhol, Art Statements Gallery, Hong Kong, China
2010
L’Art et la Manière, Musée de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
Monica De Cardenas, Milan, Italy
2009
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Druckgrafik 1992-2008, Kunstverein Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany
Dogenhaus Galerie Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Druckgrafik 1992-2008, Kunstverein Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany
Galerie de l’Erban, Nantes, France
2008
Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
Galleria Valentina Bonomo – Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
2007
Galleria Monica De Cardenas, Milano, Italy
Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Stephan Balkenholl, MKM Museum Küppersmühle für moderne Kunst, Duisburg, Germany
Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria
Galleri Lars Bohman, Stockholm, Sweden
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Monica De Cardenas Milano, Milan, Italy
New Works, Deweer Art Gallery, Otegem, Belgium
New Work, Art Statements Gallery, Hong Kong, China
PAC – Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
2006
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden / MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, Germany
Holzskulpturen und Bilder, Kunstverein Lippe – Lippische Gesellschaft für Kunst, Detmold, Germany
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden, Germany
Museum der Moderne Salzburg Mönchsberg, Salzburg, Austria
New Works, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, Denmark
Regen Projects, Los Angeles, California, USA
2005
The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
Esculturas, Galería Pepe Cobo, Madrid, Spain
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
The Task of Solitary Man, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
Mann schwarz-weiß, Kunsthalle Göppingen, Göppingen, Germany
New Sculptures, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2003
Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
Le Rectangle and Goethe Institute, Lyon, France
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Stephan Balkenhol und…, Stadtische Galerie Fellbach, Fellbach, Germany
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2002
Installation, Landeshauptstadt Erfurt, Stadtverwaltung, Erfurt, Germany
Gallery Pepe Cobo, Sevilla, Spain
Begegnungsstatte Kleine Synagoge Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany
Regen Projects, Los Angeles, California, USA
2001
Galerie Monica DeCardenas, Milan, Italy
Kunstforum Baloise, Basel, Switzerland
C.G.A.C (Centre Galego de Arte Contemporaneo), Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
OMR Gallery, Mexico-City, Mexico
Barbara Wein Verlag/Galerie Berlin: S.B-Photographien
Fries Museum, Leauwarden, Netherlands
Museum den bildenden Kunste Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
2000
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Galerie Johnen & Schottle, Cologne, Germany
Kunstverein Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
The Contemporary Arts Centre, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Bell Gallery, Brown University Providence, Rhode Island, USA
St Louis Arts Center, St Louis, Missouri, USA
Monica de Cardenas, Milan, Italy
Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanéa, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Galeria OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
Centre for Contemporary Art, Cincinatti, Ohio, USA
1999
Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam, Netherlands
BAWAG Foundation, Vienna, Austria
Sculptures Récentes, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Galleria Civica Di Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Italy
European Foundation for Sculpture, Parque Tournay Solvay, Brussels, Belgium
Regen Projects, Los Angeles, California, USA
Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London, UK
1998
Monica De Cardenas, Milan, Italy
Skulpturen, Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Germany
Skulpturen, Gerhard Marcks-Haus, Bremen, Germany
Skulpturen, Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Germany
1997
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Galerie Johnen & Schöttle, Cologne, Germany
1996
Montreal, Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada
C.E.A.A.C., Strasbourg, France
Regen Projects, Los Angeles, California, USA
Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
1995
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
Smithsonian Institute, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA
1994
Skulpturen, Kunstraum Neue Kunst, Hannover, Germany
Musée Departemental d’Art Contemporain de Rochechouart, France. Travelled to Musée des Beaux Arts, Haute-Normandie, Rouen, France
Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
1993
Vier Männer auf Bojen, Locations: Elbe, near Museumshafen Ovelgünne, Hamburg-Altona; Suderelbe, Hamburg-Harburg; Serrahn, Hamburg-Bergdorf; Aussenalster, near Gurlittinsel, Hamburg-Mitte, Germany
Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven, Germany
Galerie Johnen & Schöttle, Cologne, Germany
Regen Projects, Los Angeles, California, USA
1992
Galerie Roger Pailhas, Paris and Marseille, France
About Men and Sculpture, Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1991
Six ours pour Paris, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Paris, France
Skulpturen im Stadelgarten, Städtische Galerie im Städel, Frankfurt, Germany
Galerie Johnen & Schöttle, Cologne, Germany and Kunstverein Ulm, Ulm, Germany
The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
1989
Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, West Germany
1988
Neue Skulpturen, Galerie Löhrl, Mönchengladbach, West Germany
Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Travelled to Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany; the Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nuremberg, Germany
1985
Skulpturen, A.O. Kunstraum, Hamburg, Germany
Skulpturen: Kunstverein Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
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