Stephan Balkenhol (b. 1957)

'Balkenhol is concerned with attracting a broad audience for his sculpture, and one of the ways in which he does so is by reinvigorating the long-dormant tradition of siting figurative statues in public places. He does not seek to recapture the heroic glory of bygone periods but rather demonumentalises the figurative statue by thrusting the most unremarkable men and women onto pedestals historically reserved for heroes and heroines. In the process the artist has engaged with a wide range of viewers, namely, adults and children who need no prior experience of art to appreciated a sculpture encountered during the course of daily life. Not since Claes Oldenburg began to install his sculptures outdoors in the 1960s has a sculptor so successfully employed deadpan humour to draw people to art.' (N. Benezra (ed.), 'Stephan Balkenhol: Refiguring a Tradition', in Stephen Balkenhol Sculptures and Drawings, exh. cat., Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 1995, p. 23).