Against changing expectations concerning the role of sculpture in Modern Art, Stephan Balkenhol has always adhered to representational figures and used traditional material like wood or bronze. The pivotal theme of his work is Man. His sculptures, carved from roughly hewn wood, are freestanding figures, heads or reliefs, painted in simple colours, either smaller or larger than life. Although they seem very natural, they don't convey anything typical about the person portrayed. Balkenhol does not tell a story, he rather records the variety of human physiognomy. The figures are devised in a relaxed attitude, without expressive gestures. Dispassionately, they remain untouched by any kind of hustle, like witnesses of a time in which haste and restlessness have long been without any relevance.
