STEPHAN BALKENHOL. PUBLIC - The Sculptures in Public Space 1984-2008

STEPHAN BALKENHOL (1957-)

“I want everything all at once: sensuality, expression, but not too much; vibrancy, but no superficial blather.” Stephan Balkenhol

The wood sculptures by Stephan Balkenhol (*1957 in Fritzlar), one of the most important German sculptors, are equally palpable in public space as they are in the public’s consciousness. His figures of humans and animals, usually hewn out of poplar with a chisel and populating streets, squares, or office corridors as if they were a matter of course, are succinct and at the same time apparently inconspicuous—almost other-worldly. Even his Giraffe Man, erected in 2006 in front of the ARTE headquarters in Strasbourg and one of his best-known sculptures, is by no means strange, looking rather like an Everyman despite its long giraffe neck. This volume not only documents the sculptures Balkenhol has realized for public spaces since 2000, it also contains an illustrated catalogue of all the artist's sculptures produced since 1984.

By Andreas Franzke, foreword by Markus Hartmann, texts by Eckhard Nordhofen.