The human body and its interaction with space, furniture and objects in a context that is both historical and contemporary: this is the field of experimentation of Lukas Gschwandtner.
After studying traditional leatherwork and earning a Bachelor of Arts in spatial design, the young Vienna-based artist and designer explores the body language suggested by furniture. He presented this theme at the "Pillow Portraits" exhibition in Brussels in 2021 with the Maniera gallery.
“The project began with a seat I found in the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Oxford. It consisted of a rectangular pillow placed on a wooden stool. I wanted to find a way to reshape this memento into a single piece and make it functional. So, by cutting the material in the right places without adding anything, I used a single piece to design the stool seat, which includes a pillow and covers the entire seat with minimal stitching. On one side, the excess material, which visually extends the shape of the seat, can be rolled or draped over the back of the stool,” the artist explains.
He adds that he later discovered Antonio Canova's 1805 sculpture of Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix. "Pauline is draped on a chaise longue, which led me to elongate the stool's design, creating an almost paradoxical use of the piece. While the original stool was intended for prayer and contemplation, simply lengthening its proportions completely changes its function. A chaise longue lends itself to a much more relaxed posture, evoking a sense of leisure that, historically, was reserved for the privileged, acting as a central piece of furniture in a boudoir, a woman's private chamber. In practice, it allowed her to read, write, meditate, and reflect. I am fascinated by how adjusting the proportions and changing the setting in which this piece of furniture is placed alter its interaction with the body."
Following these fascinating discoveries and research, Lukas Gschwandtner collected historical references to women on chaise longues, studying their postures, behaviors, gestures, and individual uses of the furniture. "It all depended on what society in each period deemed an appropriate way to represent a woman's being, intellect, status, and femininity. Their bodies were always delicately positioned, almost draped, on the structure of the chaise longue, supported only by cushions. So I began to translate these postures directly into portable sculptures on canvas," explains the young artist.
A unique work, from a young artist to be followed urgently.
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