von Habsburg Gabriela
1956, Deutschland
Bildhauerin, Dozentin, Professorin
«...Der Betrachter soll neue Durchblicke bekommen, neue Perspektiven kennen lernen, Bekanntes von einer neuen Seite anschauen lernen...»
Gabriela von Habsburg has been working primarily with steel and stainless steel for quite some time. No matter whether one’s first associations are art or industry, it seems difficult, at first, to reconcile the fact that this is a material that a female artist prefers. But the process of women‘s liberation has long been completed, and Gabriela von Habsburg certainly did not need it.
The artist began working with wood but soon found herself using steel. She knows as much about welding and grinding as any metalworker. Her works, whether small, large, or monumental are squarely within the tradition of modern constructivist sculpture and yet they retain an independent character.
A dynamic, optimistic quality is palpable in these assertive sculptures full of angles and edges – perhaps even a male quality. Other parts of her work have rounded and curved forms, sometimes with holes or voids that seem to lean toward the feminine and toward nature, and it is exciting when these different elements encounter each other in a single sculpture to penetrate, complement and inspire each other.
All of Gabriela von Habsburg’s sculptures have a harmony and an elegance to them, but they never fall into the trap of winsome sweetness or fawning prettiness for its own sake. The texture of the surfaces makes the steel come alive in its effective contrast to the sculptures’ bases that are polished and as smooth as glass so that they reflect the energy and movement of the sculptures, the reflections refracting and enriching the visual experience.
This potential for movement is everywhere, so that concepts, such as music, sound, harmony, or rhythm arise unbidden. The dynamic quality of these sculptures is palpable both in their statics and their organic character. And in her language of forms, the artist finds simple and legible ciphers, for example, when she catches the wind in the curve of a sail so that the sculpture, as earth-bound as it is, embarks on a journey.
In this unintrusive yet very present context, the observer nevers senses any alienation but only natural dimensions and a measure of humanity. Steel, seemingly so cold, becomes a material that has been fashioned by a masterful hand. The sculptures imply that man can form the present and the future wisely and with humanity even though technology in all of its furious progress seems to augur otherwise.
Heidi Leupi, Luzern, Switzerland
