Work data:
Author: Stephan Balkenhol (Fritzlar, Germany, 1957)
Title: Man Moving
Year of creation: 2003
Materials and dimensions: polychrome bronze. 210 x 40 x 40 centimeters
Stephan Balkenhol's work speaks to his interest in reintroducing the human figure into contemporary art. These are sculptures of ordinary men and women, undefined, impersonal, belonging to the present, mirrors of each and every one of us. Balkenhol seeks objectivity and neutrality in human representation. As he himself points out, they are beautiful, silent figures that say a lot and nothing at the same time. As viewers, we sense this man, familiar and distant at the same time. The pedestal helps display the piece at a certain height but without the intention of hierarchical isolation. The artist offers us the beginning or a fragment of a story of contemporary women and men, whose ending is not revealed, and which we, as viewers, must complete.