442 - Bruno Gironcoli* (Villach 1936 - 2010 Vienna)

Bruno Gironcoli* (Villach 1936 - 2010 Vienna) The Chain silkscreen/paper 21 x 30 cm signed B. Gironcoli, numbered 2/20 SCHÄTZPREIS / ESTIMATE € 600 - 1200 STARTPREIS / STARTING PRICE € 600 After training as a gold, silver, and coppersmith in Innsbruck from 1951 to 1956, Gironcoli studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna—initially from 1957 to 1959 and again in 1961–62—under Eduard Bäumer. His craft-based training remained fundamental to his precise handling of metal, surfaces, and sculptural constructions. In the 1960s, Gironcoli created wire sculptures—which he himself described as "failed objects"—as well as drawings and polyester pieces. Influenced by Alberto Giacometti, he developed a fragile, anthropomorphic formal language. From the early 1970s onwards, he expanded the traditional standalone sculpture into expansive object arrangements in which body fragments, machine forms, vessels, animals, everyday objects, and archaic symbols merged into ambiguous visual worlds. In 1977, Gironcoli was appointed professor and head of the Master Class for Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, succeeding Fritz Wotruba; he held this position until his retirement in 2004. The large studio spaces now at his disposal enabled him to realize his monumental sculptures, which garnered increasing international attention from the mid-1980s onwards. Gironcoli’s works combine technical precision with a deliberately unsettling symbolism situated at the intersection of technology, the body, sexuality, power, and menace. These large-scale constructions—often executed in gold, silver, or aluminum—evoke cult objects, futuristic machines, and fragile scenarios of human existence all at once. As a teacher, Gironcoli influenced several younger generations of artists, including Franz West, Hans Schabus, and Ugo Rondinone. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase price consists of the highest bid plus the buyer's premium, sales tax and, if applicable, the fee of artists resale rights and platform fee. In the case of normal taxation (marked ° at the estimate), a premium of 24% is added to the highest bid. The mandatory sales tax is added to the sum of the highest bid, the buyer's premium and platform fee. This amounts to 13% for paintings, drawings, graphic works and sculptures and 20% for photographs and all other items. The buyer's premium amounts to 28% in case of differential taxation. The sales tax is included in the differential taxation.