ART
Stephan Balkenhol |
Written 30 January |
Tuesday 24 November, 18:30Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, 75003 [map]Stephan Balkenhol
Opening with the presence of the artist on Tuesday, November 24th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.
Stephan Balkenhol, an internationally renowned German artist who has been concentrating on the human figure for over two decades, presents a solo exhibition of new sculptures in wood. Balkenhol began his sculptural process of figurative wood carving in the mid-eighties – as a response to the abstract, minimalist and conceptual approaches of the Hamburg School of Fine Arts where he studied from 1976 to 1982 under Ulrich Rückriem. His first figurative wooden sculptures from 1983 of a larger-than-life naked man and woman placed the human figure at the centre of his work and reintroduced the figure to contemporary sculpture. In the 1990s he added animals and hybrids, and more recently architecture to his artistic vocabulary. His practice also comprises drawings and photographs.
The artist uses a hammer and chisel to gouge his figures out of the tree trunk, leaving the shavings and traces of the tools visible in the wood with its knots, grain and cracks. He then uses paint to structure the sculpture and accentuate the anatomy, in no way heightening the figure’s expressiveness. Balkenhol’s people, heads and animals suggest an inner distance while remaining open to the viewer; “I seek an open expression from out of which all states are possible”.
| What: | Stephan Balkenhol |
| When: | Tuesday 24 November, 18:30 |
| Where: | Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, 7 Rue Debelleyme 75003 [map] |
| Transport: | Filles Du Calvaire |
| Cost: | 0EUR |
| Phone: | 01 42 72 99 00 |
| Email: | galerie@ropac.net |
| Web: | www.ropac.net |
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