Gabriele Kutschera

The techniques used to forge iron and precious metal are a key theme in the work of Viennese artist Gabriele Kutschera (b. 1950). Starting out with jewellery creations related to the body, she turned to spatially related, forged iron sculptures from the 1990s.

The rhythmical process of altering the cross-section of an industrially prefabricated iron rod is a defining factor of her metalsmithing: by hammering and annealing - the creation and release of the metal's stresses - she is able to shape the material. Kutschera translates this sequential processing into her expressive works. The perception of time and change is her chief motif, which she also addresses in her paper works Timelines.