The sculptor Stephan Balkenhol, who works as a teacher at the Karlsruhe Art Academy, is one of the most important international representatives of contemporary figurative wood sculpture. The central theme of his work, as of his entire sculptural oeuvre, is the depiction of man.
Balkenhol created the wooden sculpture “Male Figure” for the art project “Hier Da Und Dort” for the State Garden Show in Singen in 2000. Removed from the everyday world, the stylized single figure was placed in the top arcade of the Maggi water tower, which was built in 1909 and has been a listed building since 1990, and looks out over the city and countryside into the distance. The resting posture and the unusual location lend the larger-than-life figure a symbolic and memorial-like effect. White shirt, brown trousers and short hair symbolize the neutral type of the average modern man.
A telescope belonging to the sculptural installation at the entrance to Scheffelstraße allows a close-up view of the figure positioned at a lofty height. The rough carving of the wooden surface, which becomes visible on closer inspection, fills the seemingly lapidary austerity of the figure with tension and vitality. Away from social reality and meaningfully elevated by the round arch of the historical architecture, Balkenhol's solitary figure makes reference to traditional architectural sculpture since the early Renaissance and is reminiscent of pillar statues on Gothic church façades.
The work creates an unexpected, visually tangible relationship between the public urban space and the non-public industrial area. At the same time, the sculptural intervention brings the tower, which is not accessible to the public, back into the consciousness of the citizens of Singen, making it an irritating focus of attention in the urban fabric and marking a permanent place for art in the city. The content, form and expression of the seemingly self-evident staging are characteristic of the artist's sculptural work in the context of urban spaces.
Text and editing: Kunstmuseum Singen
