"Sphaera" & "Woman in the Rock", Stephan Balkenhol
5th art project Salzburg Walk of Modern Art: Stephan Balkenhol - "Sphaera" (at Kapitelplatz ) and "Woman in the Rock" (Toscaninihof) - 2007
The German artist Stephan Balkenhol created two sculptures, drawing the viewer's eye to two different aspects of his capacity for sculptural expression and provoking confrontation and interpretation.
The sculpture "Sphaera" on Kapitelplatz is about nine metres high. It represents a male figure on a golden sphere with a neutral expression. This man might be 'everyman'. The same neutrality is reflected in Balkenhol's 140 cm-tall female counterpart, "Woman in the Rock". Neither figure tells us its story. They appear to reflect everyday reality, and yet remain emotionless and anonymous. Balkenhol's art invokes a great range of interpretation. His sculptures move along the very thin line of recognition and doubt, proximity and distance.
