“STEPHAN BALKENHOL” Installation view at KÖNIG SEOUL ©Cheonho AhnKÖNIG SEOUL is presenting a solo exhibition of German sculptor Stephan Balkenhol (b.1957) through February 3. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in Korea and features 12 works, including his signature sculptures and reliefs made of wood.
The artist mainly carves the figures he wants to express on wawa wood or cedar wood with chisels and hammers. He focuses on the surface of the sculpture, leaving the traces of the tools used to create it. The rough surfaces and the colors used to enliven the figures give each piece its own personality.
The exhibition includes three of his most famous works, < MAN ON PEDESTAL >, < MAN, BLACK TROUSERS, WHITE SHIRT >, and < MAN IN BLACK SUIT >, created in 2019, which feature a man wearing black pants and a white shirt. Alongside these are two sculptures of women dressed in yellow and blue, new works from 2023. Balkenhol’s sculptures are characterized by the absence of distinct emotions or sentiments, and all of them have neutral look. With little emotion and no socio-political references, these figures embody universal concepts of being, object, and place.
Born in 1957 in Fritzlar, Germany, currently Balkenhol lives and works in Germany and France. He studied at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg from 1976-82. Balkenhol has held solo exhibitions at the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2020-21), Museum Jorn, Silkeborg (2020), Kunsthalle Emden, Germany (2018), Moscow Museum of Modern Art (2016), and Landesmuseum Linz (2014-15), Ravensburg Art Museum (2014), Museum of Grenoble, France (2010), Deichtorhallen Hamburg (2008-09), and Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe (2006).
