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Current Exhibitions Future Exhibitions Back to Exhibitions )
Jürgen Strunck, RUU-7, 2003. Ink on Japanese fiber, 43 x 43 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
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Gisela-Heidi Strunck, Mahal, 2002. Lacewood, purpleheart, red cedar, MDF board, pine, satinwood, bamboo, birch, padauk, wenge, brass, mirror glass, metallic floss and acrylic, 93 x 75 x 96 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
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Gisela-Heidi Strunck, Path Master, 2005. Mahogany, paduak, lacewood, oak, birch, copper, metallic floss, acrylic, 42 x 19 x 10 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
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Jürgen Strunck, RUU-38, 2003. Ink on Japanese fiber, 38 x 38 inches. Courtesy of the artist.
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Gisela-Heidi and Jürgen Strunck: Sculptures & Prints March 9–May 14, 2006 
This exhibition is a product of collaborative effort by two artists, Jürgen and Gisela-Heidi Strunck. The collaboration, however, is more in their life than in their art. The two work in entirely different media: Heidi, a sculptor, has been recently making objects echoing architectural forms and religious symbols derived from South Asia with different varieties of woods, copper fittings, metallic floss, colored paper and other materials. Jürgen is a printmaker still pursuing his unique method of using a cone-shaped roller, stencils and a special printing table. His creations are dense and lusciously saturated unique prints in soft geometric patterns of color on richly tactile Japanese paper.
If there is a common element in both of their works, it is the sense of religiosity stemming from very different personalities who nonetheless share a common goal in living together: they are husband and wife dedicated to art. Heidi's works featured in this exhibition will include earlier works as well as recent pieces executed after the artist lost most of her sight in 2003. These works are the miracle of her will to make art which, however, would not be possible if it were not for Jürgen's help. He supports her effort not necessarily to see, but more to feel the sculptural pieces that constitute her finished work. Working in the new enabling environment, Heidi's creativity is transforming her sculptures into artwork whose structure requires, for comprehension, tactile memory in addition to the visual sense on the part of the beholder. Jürgen, for his part, is pushing against the outer limits of printmaking, following the trajectory of contemporarty art that he set for himself over two decades ago in order to open new vistas in the medium of his choice.
Born in Deggendorf, Germany in 1945, Heidi studied in Madrid, Athens and Oslo. Her first art exhibitions featuring paintings were in Spain and Argentina. She moved to Texas in the late 1960s, and began to study ceramics and sculpture in 1970. She regularly traveled to India beginning in 1994, returning almost yearly through 2000. Her works have been featured in a large number of exhibitions over the years. Jürgen—also born in Germany, in the town of Neidenburg in 1943—studied in Munich, Wichita, Kansas and the University of Dallas in Irving after moving to Texas in 1967. He has taught art at UD since 1968. Like Heidi, he has presented his work in numerous exhibitions, both solo and group shows, and his prints can be found in such eminent collections as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design (New York) and many others.
Gisela-Heidi and Jürgen Strunck: Sculptures & Prints is organized by the Tyler Museum of Art.
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