Hand-painted bronze.
Base - 29 x 29 cm
Height - 68 cm.
Fussballliebe by Stephan Balkenhol is a 2024 hand-painted bronze sculpture that combines the artist’s understated figurative style with the universal appeal of football. Standing confidently with one foot resting on a football, the young player is dressed in a simple white jersey, black shorts, and knee-high socks. Balkenhol’s deliberately restrained expression and subtly textured surfaces emphasize the individuality of the figure while avoiding overt narrative or heroism. Known for his life-sized carved wooden figures, the artist applies the same quiet human presence to bronze, inviting viewers to reflect on everyday identity and shared cultural experiences. Issued in an edition of 40, Fussballliebe celebrates the enduring connection between sport, youth, and collective memory through Balkenhol’s distinctive contemporary sculptural language.
Stephan Balkenhol (Germany, 1957) is a celebrated sculptor known for his painted wooden figures that combine simplicity with emotional depth. Often depicting everyday people, his works explore themes of identity and humanity while maintaining a sense of mystery. Balkenhol’s art bridges traditional craftsmanship and contemporary expression, earning him recognition worldwide.
BronzeBronze is a metal alloy made primarily of copper and tin, with a typical modern composition of 88% copper and 12% tin. Over time, bronze develops a patina, a surface color that often turns deep green due to oxidation. Large bronze objects, such as sculptures, are typically made in foundries. Bronze is valued for its durability and has been widely used throughout history for art, tools, and weapons.
Hand-painted bronze.
Base - 29 x 29 cm
Height - 68 cm.
Fussballliebe by Stephan Balkenhol is a 2024 hand-painted bronze sculpture that combines the artist’s understated figurative style with the universal appeal of football. Standing confidently with one foot resting on a football, the young player is dressed in a simple white jersey, black shorts, and knee-high socks. Balkenhol’s deliberately restrained expression and subtly textured surfaces emphasize the individuality of the figure while avoiding overt narrative or heroism. Known for his life-sized carved wooden figures, the artist applies the same quiet human presence to bronze, inviting viewers to reflect on everyday identity and shared cultural experiences. Issued in an edition of 40, Fussballliebe celebrates the enduring connection between sport, youth, and collective memory through Balkenhol’s distinctive contemporary sculptural language.
Stephan Balkenhol (Germany, 1957) is a celebrated sculptor known for his painted wooden figures that combine simplicity with emotional depth. Often depicting everyday people, his works explore themes of identity and humanity while maintaining a sense of mystery. Balkenhol’s art bridges traditional craftsmanship and contemporary expression, earning him recognition worldwide.
In my vision my sculptures become a question, a mirror. And it is the viewer who fills it with meaning.
- Stephan Balkenhol
Acclaimed for his carvings that depict the human-form in a multitude of poses and positions, Stephan Balkenhol is a German sculptor and painter. His sculptures are often carved from blocks of wood with the use of traditional tools – his work is then transformed into a recognisable form with the use of a chisel, light painting of the surface and the creation of highlights and shadows through gradation. His earliest works included the nude form of a human atop a pedestal, works that recalled classical Greek busts – his attention to detail highlights such features as the curve of the eyebrow or the volume of the lip. Balkenhol’s most recent works are largely created with no apparent emotion to detect, and no obvious political or social critique; of this, Balkenhol has stated, “I’m perhaps proposing a story and not telling the end, just giving a beginning or fragment. There is still a lot for the spectator to complete.”
A found object is a term used to describe a man-made or natural object, or a fragment of one, that an artist discovers or purchases and keeps for inspiration or as a work of art. The artist may also modify the object or incorporate it into a collage or assemblage, transforming it into a new piece of art.