Each morning, from sunrise to sunset, on a ranch 20 miles west of Johnson City on Highway 290, an elegant, long-haired man can be seen hoisting, moving and positioning sculpture three times his height and 100 times his weight. Here is the newest star of cultural enrichment in the Texas Hill Country - Johann Eyfells at The Eyfells and Eyfells Foundation, international headquarters for Receptual Art.

To visit the project is to discover the lifetime work of two world-class artists - one renown for powerful sculpture - large-scale pieces in concrete, molten metals and bronzes, that have been exhibited from the Venice Biennale to the Corcoran; the other famous for her brightly-colored, forceful paintings of celebrities and her Ladies Anonymous series - all this, the work of husband and wife artists, Johann Eyfells and Kristin H. Eyfells.

Visitors are welcome to stop by; they will find usually find Eyfells at work, from dawn to sundown. He will make an exception to this routine when he attends the Arts Encounters Events at The Benini Foundation Galleries and Sculpture Ranch, between Fredericksburg and Johnson City, the last weekend of each month - where several of his pieces are on display. With other artists and sculptors, Eyfells will meet the public and discuss his work.

Born in Iceland to an artist father and embroidery artist-mother, Eyfells started boxing at the age of 17, continuing for five years, never losing a match. He lived in Iceland until 1945 when he went to the University of California in Berkeley.

Eyfells trained as an architect, earning his BA in Architecture in 1953, and a Master of Fine Arts in 1964, both from the University of Florida. He chose art, and most often sculpture, to focus his energies and his studies. Throughout the years, Eyfells' studies have also embraced science, and the philosophers - Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and Pascal, in particular.

In conversation, Eyfells will often toss out little hints or scholarly references, like a hopef ...

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