Stephan Balkenhol – Man with white shirt | Paper relief is a three-dimensional graphic in an edition of 40 copies. Analogous to his famous wood reliefs, the artist Stephan Balkenhol has transferred the three-dimensionality to paper. The artwork, consisting of a hand-cast paper relief, was uniquely hand-painted by Stephan Balkenhol. The original motif was created in 2017 and completed in 2023 as an edition of 40 copies. The silhouette of the portrait of the man in a white shirt was mounted by the artist behind a matt black wooden panel and set in a wooden frame. Balkenhol, world-famous for his sculptures, has created an impressive illusion here with the material paper, as the paper can hardly be distinguished from wood in terms of its appearance. The man portrayed looks at the viewer insistently and straightforwardly; individual traces are lost in his face in favor of an almost universal expression. It is a broad spectrum of possibilities of identification that fan out before our eyes and touch the viewer in its fullness and openness. The artistic means of color and motif are almost minimalist, and yet Balkenhol pulls out all the stops of his virtuosity in this work. The personal dissolves in favor of the universal. Balkenhol captures unremarkable moments. The people he depicts are completely absorbed in themselves. They appear relaxed, unbiased, distanced. Although their gaze is directed at us, it often seems empty. This reinforces their baffling mysteriousness. When Balkenhol studied under Ulrich Rückriem and Sigmar Polke at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts, his figurative compositions ran counter to the prevailing abstract and conceptual art. His works are not portraits in the concrete sense: they do not depict anyone in particular, nor are they signs or symbols of people. Balkenhol’s use of wood, bronze and traditional carving methods creates a direct, tactile connection between the viewer and the figure. His style, often described as a return to figurative sculpture in contemporary art, is known for its raw, almost unfinished texture. This rawness enhances the sense of the figure’s humanity. Despite his constrained position, the man remains comprehensible, imperfect and very much alive in his quiet endurance.