Stephan Balkenhol. Deadline

Works of art spring from inner necessities. Painters, sculptors, photographers, or—more generally and therefore imprecisely speaking—"artists," work against mortality by leaving traces of their being. They shape or create using a wide variety of methods and materials, yet in their tireless activity it becomes clear that neither they themselves nor, ultimately, their works can resist transience.

The sculptor Stephan Balkenhol has created numerous sculptures, reliefs, and prints in his artistic oeuvre, in which he engages with death in a symbolic way. In his "Bone Man" or in series of skull reliefs, his personal interest in the ultimate mystery of human existence is revealed, and, as in all his works, his unique treatment of wood is evident. In his creative process, Balkenhol removes material to add to the work. He is both originator and image-maker. The wood loses volume and gains form. Content lies openly before the viewer, yet simultaneously retreats into the layers that have not been removed.

The Museum for Sepulchral Culture, dedicated to the themes of dying, death, burial, mourning, and remembrance since 1992, is presenting an exhibition of old and new works on death in collaboration with Stephan Balkenhol. The open and light-filled architecture of the museum, designed by Wilhelm Kücker, creates unique spatial settings for the mostly polychrome sculptures. This is the first thematic museum exhibition in his adopted home of Kassel, and it will take place in a familiar location on Kassel's Weinberg hill: Balkenhol attended the Friedrichsgymnasium, located opposite the museum, in the 1970s.