coated steel frame, light brown and warm grey leather, Wittmann upholstery, height approx. 50 cm, width approx. 200 cm, depth approx. 80 cm. (MHA)

A unique item

‘Like Gilbert Bretterbauer’s rug works, “seat” is part of his play with surfaces, planes, and spaces. The artist’s thinking finally breaks free from the illusion of neutral space. Even furniture, when functionalised for the purpose of interior decoration, belongs to a system of categories that does not actually grasp the life of space, but disciplines it at best. Bretterbauer’s objects do not occupy space in an inconsiderate way, solely for their own beauty. In the interaction between construction and the environment they determine the space due to them. “seats” have sprung from this investigative approach of his: objects generated from circular patterns that rise and become pieces of furniture, also holding their ground as functional works of art.’ (Carola Platzek)

Gilbert Bretterbauer was born in Vienna in 1957. From 1979 to 1986 he studied at the Vienna University of Applied Arts, where he subsequently taught as a lecturer in 1987/88 and between 1991 and 1997. Since 2011 he has been a professor at the University for Art and Industrial Design in Linz. In 1998 he founded ‘studio bretterbauer / baldwin’ in Vienna and Los Angeles, and ‘bretterbauerobjects’ in 2012. He designs interiors, produces furniture, and creates art objects and installations. Abstraction plays a crucial role in Bretterbauer’s versatile practice.

Cf. Lit.:
bretterbauer objects, Vienna 2014, pp. 55ff, ill. p. 63