Three Large Female Nudes

"Balkenhol's approach - combining an awareness of sculptural tradition, observations of human gesture and dress, and his own down-to-earth playfulness - now coalesced and formed a specific working process. With the early painted and 'clothed' figures, Balkenhol established an attitude toward rendering the human form that would confound accepted practice but remain true to his own immediate perceptions. 'Mimesis in this context can be understood in various ways', he has noted. 'I don't mean only 'imitation' of the superficial level of reality, but also the reflection of the human relations to art, to reality.'"
(N. Benezra, in: 'Stephan Balkenhol. Sculptures and Drawings', Washington, D.C. 1995, p.29.)