Stephan Balkenhol / Jorge Mendez Blake

After his 2001 show Recent Sculptures, Stephan Balkenhol returns to OMR to present his self-titled exhibition comprised of works he made at the end of 2003.

Though Minimalism was a great influence on his work while he was a student, Balkenhol’s recent pieces conscientiously reinsert the human figure within the sphere of contemporary art. Referencing medieval saints’ sculptures as well as Pop-Art, he depicts the human figure isolated from its narrative context though not altogether disassociated from time. Indeed, Balkenhol’s sculptures seem to capture a specific moment of the represented figure’s action and thus appear to be imbued with life in the instant of this reflection.

Among the pieces in this show, Balkenhol presents five human figures, each one carved out of a single piece of wood, including its pedestal. The fusion of pedestal and figure refers back to the historic discussion that led to the differentiation between monument and sculpture. With his everyday characters, Balkenhol questions what the pedestal used to support and proposes that the roles be switched, taking us from the realm of the sacred to that of the secular and thus to that of ordinary individuals and their everyday actions.

Wood-carved reliefs, which once again depict ordinary characters but also landscapes that appear symbolic given their religious associations, reiterate the issue of the role played by that which is represented by comparing and contrasting historically important subject matter with the everyday.

Pressetext

Stephan Balkenhol - Recent Sculpture

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Jorge Mendez Blake - Casi Historias