STEPHAN BALKENHOL

Solo exhibition at ARNDT Singapore
January 11 -  February 28, 2014
 

VIDEO | Stephan Balkenhol about his first solo show at ARNDT Singapore


Press Release

Berlin/Singapore. Stephan Balkenhol is a prominent artist particularly known for his rough-hewn sculptures, each chiseled from a block of wood and then painted. He has been exhibiting his work for more than 30 years at various galleries and museums around the globe. Balkenhol’s first solo exhibition in Singapore will open on January 11, 2014. The art gallery ARNDT will have several of his latest sculptures and mural reliefs on display until February 23, 2014.
Balkenhol places the focus of this exhibition on the human figure with an elephant head, which hails back to his group of works from the 1990s where he mixed humans and animals in a type of hybrid piece. The sculpture establishes a connection to the Hindu deity Ganesha. This deity stands for the perfect Hindu family, together with his mother Parvati and his father Shiva, the deity with multiple arms. “Ganesha and Shiva are archetypical representations that are also prevalent in Europe. They’re the pop stars of the deities,” remarks Balkenhol. The artist uses his elephant man as a paraphrase for the various reproductions of Ganesha as he draws himself nearer to a culture that is still foreign to him. The exhibition in Singapore has several sculptures and mural reliefs created by Balkenhol surrounding this one central figure.
In addition to larger solo exhibitions (the Deichtorhallen art center in Hamburg, 2008/09; Musée de Grenoble, 2010/11), Balkenhol’s work can increasingly be found in public spaces, too. His piece “Balancing art” has been perched in front of the Axel-Springer building in Berlin since 2009, evoking memories of the fall of the Berlin wall. Balkenhol designed the oversized male torso “Sempre più ...”, also in 2009, for the Forum Romanum in Rome, Italy. It was on display at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria, for the Salzburg Festival in 2011, and in 2012, in the courtyard of the Church St. Elisabeth in Kassel, Germany. The exhibition in Kassel took place at the same time as Documenta 13 and showed a sculpture that was integrated into the church tower and quickly became a permanent fixture in the city landscape. The Richard Wagner monument, which Balkenhol created for the city of Leipzig for the 200th anniversary of the German composer’s birthday in 2013, similarly became a mainstay in the city. The same year, the artist also presented his work at the German ambassador’s history-laden residence in the Palais Beauharnais in Paris.

Stephan Balkenhol was born in Fritzlar, Germany, in 1957. Since 1993 he has been a professor of sculpture at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe. He lives and works between Kassel, Karlsruhe, Berlin, and Meisenthal, France.

 

Press

blouinartinfo.com | Stephan Balkenhol | ARNDT Singapore

ARNDT Singapore
Gillman Barracks
BLK 22 Lock Road #01-35
Singapore 108939
Tel. +65 67340775

Stephan Balkenhol, Studio shot, Man with white shirt and black trousers, 2013, Coloured bronze, 190 x 0 cm | 74.8 x 0 in Number 1 from an edition of 3, # BALK0009 Stephan Balkenhol, Studio shot, Man with white shirt and black trousers, 2013, Coloured bronze, 190 x 0 cm | 74.8 x 0 in Number 1 from an edition of 3, # BALK0009
Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, In front of ARNDT Singapore, Gillman Barracks, Right side: Man with white shirt and black trousers, 2013, Coloured bronze, 190 x 0 cm | 74.8 x 0 in, Number 1 from an edition of 3, # BALK0009 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, In front of ARNDT Singapore, Gillman Barracks, Right side: Man with white shirt and black trousers, 2013, Coloured bronze, 190 x 0 cm | 74.8 x 0 in, Number 1 from an edition of 3, # BALK0009 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, In front of ARNDT Singapore, Gillman Barracks, Man with white shirt and black trousers, 2013, Coloured bronze, 190 x 0 cm | 74.8 x 0 in, Number 1 from an edition of 3, # BALK0009 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, In front of ARNDT Singapore, Gillman Barracks, Man with white shirt and black trousers, 2013, Coloured bronze, 190 x 0 cm | 74.8 x 0 in, Number 1 from an edition of 3, # BALK0009 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Right side: Frau in rotem Kleid und mit roter Handtasche (Woman in red dress and with red handbag), 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 168 x 24 x 30 cm | 66.14 x 9.45 x 11.81 in, # BALK0004 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Right side: Frau in rotem Kleid und mit roter Handtasche (Woman in red dress and with red handbag), 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 168 x 24 x 30 cm | 66.14 x 9.45 x 11.81 in, # BALK0004 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Left side: Mann mit brauner Lederjacke und blauer Hose (Man in brown leather jacket and blue trouser), 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 170 x 24 x 30 cm | 66.93 x 9.45 x 11.81 in, # BALK0002 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Left side: Mann mit brauner Lederjacke und blauer Hose (Man in brown leather jacket and blue trouser), 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 170 x 24 x 30 cm | 66.93 x 9.45 x 11.81 in, # BALK0002 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Right side: Relief „Mann“ (Relief ,Man’), 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 67 x 60 x 2 cm | 26.38 x 23.62 x 0.79 in, # BALK0010 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Right side: Relief „Mann“ (Relief ,Man’), 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 67 x 60 x 2 cm | 26.38 x 23.62 x 0.79 in, # BALK0010 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Right side: Figur „Elefantenmann“ (Figure ,Elephant man’), 2013, Coloured popplar wood, 200 x 64 x 34 cm | 78.74 x 25.2 x 13.39 in, # BALK0012 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Right side: Figur „Elefantenmann“ (Figure ,Elephant man’), 2013, Coloured popplar wood, 200 x 64 x 34 cm | 78.74 x 25.2 x 13.39 in, # BALK0012 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Figur „Mann mit fünf Amen“ (Figure ,Man with five arms’), 2013, Coloured bronze, 25 x 25 x 24 cm | 09.84 x 09.84 x 9.45 in, # BALK0013 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Figur „Mann mit fünf Amen“ (Figure ,Man with five arms’), 2013, Coloured bronze, 25 x 25 x 24 cm | 09.84 x 09.84 x 9.45 in, # BALK0013 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Detail, Figur „Mann mit fünf Amen“ (Figure ,Man with five arms’), 2013, Coloured bronze, 25 x 25 x 24 cm | 09.84 x 09.84 x 9.45 in, # BALK0013 Stephan Balkenhol, Installation shot, Detail, Figur „Mann mit fünf Amen“ (Figure ,Man with five arms’), 2013, Coloured bronze, 25 x 25 x 24 cm | 09.84 x 09.84 x 9.45 in, # BALK0013 Stephan Balkenhol, Man in brown leather jacket and blue trouser, 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 170 x 24 x 30 cm | 66.93 x 9.45 x 11.81 in, # BALK0002 Stephan Balkenhol, Man in brown leather jacket and blue trouser, 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 170 x 24 x 30 cm | 66.93 x 9.45 x 11.81 in, # BALK0002 Stephan Balkenhol, Woman in green loden coat, 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 168 x 24 x 24 cm | 66.14 x 9.45 x 9.45 in, # BALK0003 Stephan Balkenhol, Woman in green loden coat, 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 168 x 24 x 24 cm | 66.14 x 9.45 x 9.45 in, # BALK0003 Stephan Balkenhol, Woman in red dress and with red handbag, 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 168 x 24 x 30 cm | 66.14 x 9.45 x 11.81 in, # BALK0004 Stephan Balkenhol, Woman in red dress and with red handbag, 2013, Coloured wawa wood, 168 x 24 x 30 cm | 66.14 x 9.45 x 11.81 in, # BALK0004 Stephan Balkenhol, Man with white shirt and black trousers, 2013, Coloured lime wood, 130 x 40 x 22 cm | 51.18 x 15.75 x 8.66 in, # BALK0005 Stephan Balkenhol, Man with white shirt and black trousers, 2013, Coloured lime wood, 130 x 40 x 22 cm | 51.18 x 15.75 x 8.66 in, # BALK0005 Stephan Balkenhol, Head (Man), 2013, Coloured birch tree ply wood, 130 x 100 x 3 cm | 51.18 x 39.37 x 1.18 in, # BALK0007 Stephan Balkenhol, Head (Man), 2013, Coloured birch tree ply wood, 130 x 100 x 3 cm | 51.18 x 39.37 x 1.18 in, # BALK0007 Stephan Balkenhol, Männlicher und weiblicher Akt (Male and female nude), 2013, Coloured birch tree ply wood, Left panel: 150 x 100 x 3 cm | 59.06 x 39.37 x 1.18 in Right panel: 150 x 150 x 3 cm | 59.06 x 59.06 x 1.18 in, # BALK0006 Stephan Balkenhol, Männlicher und weiblicher Akt (Male and female nude), 2013, Coloured birch tree ply wood, Left panel: 150 x 100 x 3 cm | 59.06 x 39.37 x 1.18 in Right panel: 150 x 150 x 3 cm | 59.06 x 59.06 x 1.18 in, # BALK0006 Stephan Balkenhol, Little relief of a head, 2013, Coloured poplar, 40 x 30 x 4 cm | 15.75 x 11.81 x 1.57 in, # BALK0008 Stephan Balkenhol, Little relief of a head, 2013, Coloured poplar, 40 x 30 x 4 cm | 15.75 x 11.81 x 1.57 in, # BALK0008 Stephan Balkenhol, Man with white shirt and black trousers, 2013, Coloured bronze, 190 x 0 cm | 74.8 x 0 in Number 1 from an edition of 3, # BALK0009 Stephan Balkenhol, Man with white shirt and black trousers, 2013, Coloured bronze, 190 x 0 cm | 74.8 x 0 in Number 1 from an edition of 3, # BALK0009