Stephan Balkenhol (born 1957, Fritzlar, Hesse, Germany) is a German artist, famous for his figurative painted wooden sculptures and reliefs.

Balkenhol attended the Hamburg School of Fine Arts from 1976 to 1982, and studied under Ulrich Rückriem with Nam June Paik and Sigmar Polke among his tutors.

As a response to the abstract, minimalist and conceptual approaches of the Hamburg School, Balkenhol decided to concentrate on an everyday persona, instead of an idol or hero.

By the 1990s, his repertoire had expanded to include animals and hybrid creatures, as well as architectural motifs and reliefs.

His figures emanate timelessness: simple, plain-colored clothing and the confident yet unassuming poses of familiar yet anonymous men and women who show no subjective feelings or emotions and contain no sociological or socio-critical references.