Karl-Heinz Ströhle. Ornament and Afirmation

1. Oktober 2011 - 31. Mai 2012

Following exhibitions of the Russian Avant-Garde and Gottfried Honegger as well as a comparison of woven and painted works from the Otten Collection, the Otten Kunstraum dedicates its current show, “Ornament and Aformation”, to the work of Karl-Heinz Ströhle (born 1957in Bregenz). His work has been part of the Otten Collection since the 1990s.
 
The draughtsman, painter, object- and media artist represents one of Austria’s most interesting artistic positions. The multimedia examination of line and space as well as a reduced formal language are among Karl-Heinz Ströhle´s trademarks. Using spring steel strips, the artist has discovered a material with which he creates paintings and seemingly fragile, flexible objects. In Ströhle´s work emotion encounters minimalism, concepts encounter playful spontaneity and concrete approaches encounter abstract formulations.
 
In the last decades, the artist, who lives in Vienna, has realized numerous public art projects– for the Swisslife Rentenanstalt in Munich, for hospitals in Salzburg and Vorarlberg, and for the passageway between the Kunsthaus Bregenz and the Vorarlberger Landestheater, among others. Currently Ströhle is working on a construction net for the Vorarlberg Museum. Ströhle has created the sculpture “drop” for the outdoor space of the Otten Kunstraum on the occasion of this exhibition.
 
Karl-Heinz Ströhle studied at the Mozarteum Salzburg and at the University of Applied Arts Vienna with Bazon Brock. After teaching in Salzburg, he has been Senior Lecturer in “Art and Communicative Practice” at the University of Applied Arts Vienna since 2005.

Catalogue

A catalogue in German and English has been published by the Verlag für Moderne Kunst Nürnberg to accompany the exhibition "Karl-Heinz Ströhle. Ornament and Afirmation".
ISBN 978-3-86984-218-9
Price: € 28.00