Strawalde's desire for images in five chapters

The Kunstmuseum Reutlingen is dedicating an exhibition in five chapters to this year's winner of its Jerg Ratgeb Prize, Strawalde (*1931, civil name: Jürgen Böttcher), in the Spendhaus from 15 May. Strawalde. Hunger nach Bildern (Engl. Desire for images) reveals the magic that the artist imbues even the smallest things with. The first chapter deals with Strawalde's latest abstract works – they focus on the ornamental and the textile, are composed of gestural, musical and flowing applications of colour. They stand in the field of tension between materiality and spontaneity.

Subjects that manifested themselves in Strawalde's life are music on the one hand and man in the landscape on the other - both come to the fore in his fantasy creatures grown out of ink. His constant play with art throughout his life also led to an intensive engagement with art history, with Old and New Masters – the exhibition also devotes a chapter to this period of his life. His well-known overpaintings of art postcards move between respectful and humorous interaction with his professional colleagues from earlier times. In the programme accompanying Strawalde. Hunger nach Bildern, the museum, in cooperation with KAMINO, shows films by the artist known civilly as Jürgen Böttcher and studied director. The exhibition ends on 21 August.