The art of Stephan Balkenhol is steeped in the German tradition of wood carving, which he extends into the realm of contemporary creation. His often slightly larger-than-lifesize portraits represent human figures, sometimes in hybrid guises.
The sculpture Engelmann summons the codes of heroic statuary: an anonymous man standing on a plinth in a neutral position appears to be looking into the distance. As with many of the artist’s characters, he is dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, the standard uniform of the ordinary man, except that his raised position puts him on a slightly different level than his peers, both a man and an angel, between animated figure and lifeless object.
