The techniques used to forge iron and precious metal is a central theme in the work of Vienna-born artist Gabriele Kutschera (b. 1950). She studied under Franz Hagenauer in the master class for jewellery and metal at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, yet even then she was already turning her attention to non-precious metals. In the 1990s she began producing work at a blacksmith’s and has been developing spatially oriented forged iron sculptures ever since.
Kutschera ascribes the act of forging to its fundamental processes: by alternately hammering and annealing – the creation and release of the metal’s stresses – the material is slowly transformed. This rhythm and the associated perception of time and transition become Gabriele Kutschera’s leitmotifs, something she ultimately also translates into her paper works, Zeitlinien [Timelines].
Recently Gabriele Kutschera has again been designing jewellery, this time incorporating in it the idiom of her sculptural works. In these pieces too, design and expression are informed by rhythm. Now, however, it is the body, not the space, that becomes the frame of reference for her pieces.
The current publication documents the sculptures created by this outstanding Austrian artist between 2000 and 2018. Here Gabriele Kutschera’s iron sculptures are being presented alongside her paper works and jewellery for the very first time.
