Stephan Balkenhol

57 penguins carved from abachi wood constituted one of the works Stephan Balkenhol exhibited at the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt/Main in 1991. Visitors were thrilled by this colony of penguins that presented itself in a variety of poses: squatting, standing up, lying down, breeding, running, swimming. At first glance, the sculptures carved from a single block of wood appear simple in their choice of subject, and yet they bespeak not only the virtuosity of the artist’s craft, but also his constant questioning of human existence. After all, human beings have been at the center of Stephen Balkenhol’s art for more than thirty years. Along with the by now numerous carved “human penguins” – men in white shirts and black pants – which greatly outnumber the Frankfurt penguins in quantity and variation, Stephan Balkenhol also explores the subject of man and woman, which was exemplified in no uncertain terms in his most recent, comprehensive, retrospective at the Landesmuseum in Linz, Austria: A red fan construction shows a man on one side and only by walking around the fan, the onlooker sees a woman depicted on the other side – both paradisiacally naked. Close-by, a “Hermaphrodite” (2013) writhes prettily on a wooden board and a “Satyr” (2014) relaxes in an erotic pose emulating the famed Barberini Faun. A nude man dressed only in a brown jacket and covering his face stands in front of a relief which, much like a cave painting, recalls the origins of human artistry.