September 29, 2006 – January 28, 2007
MKM Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art

From 29 September 2006 to 28 January 2007, the MKM is presenting the most comprehensive overview of the work of the sculptor Stephan Balkenhol yet to be seen in Germany. The museum’s collection includes such significant pieces as Hexagon and Frieze of 1988, which are on display in their entirety for the first time since their year of execution.

Stephan Balkenhol (b. 1957), who teaches at the Karlsruhe Art Academy, explores ever new facets of the aesthetic and substantial potentials of contemporary figurative sculpture. What can sculpture achieve today without positing one-dimensional meanings? Although Balkenhol’s focus is primarily on the human figure, he repeatedly takes animals and architecture as points of departure. He creates certain basic prototypes – such as men and women in neutral clothing – that appear in diverse and continually new variations. His sculptures seem to derive from the reality around us, and their attire and posture can be clearly defined. And yet these figures, seemingly emotionless, remain strangely enigmatic, anonymous, and fictitious. They move along the thin line between recognition and doubt, proximity and distance – which is exactly what makes them so fascinating to the viewer.