Stephan Balkenhol's First Major French Retrospective at Musée de Grenoble

The Musée de Grenoble presents the first major exhibition in a French museum dedicated to German sculptor Stephan Balkenhol (born 1957), who has lived in France for fifteen years. Curated by Guy Tosatto, the show focuses on the last decade of Balkenhol's work, with earlier pieces included to contextualize his evolution. Balkenhol studied under minimalist Ulrich Rückriem and began carving life-sized nude male and female figures from wood in 1983. His practice has expanded to include relief panels, anamorphosis, grooved images (a Renaissance technique), and varied color treatments. Notable works include 'Relief-tête (femme, fond rouge foncé)', 'Figure-colonne acteur' (2010), a contemplative man before a large remake of Courbet's 'Origin of the World', and the bronze 'Icare' in the museum's atrium. The exhibition runs from October 30, 2010 to January 23, 2011.