Grosse Giraffe by Bernhard Luginbühl

Facts

Material

Iron, painted

Size

8.5 x 4.7 x 2.75 m

Description

The gestural minimalism of this giraffe makes it an outsider in Luginbühl's practice. Luginbühl's work is more typically large machine-like assemblages of iron. Instead here the artist displays an unfamiliar elegance in the manner he suggests the presence of the long-necked beast. The shiny red painted surface and the sweeping lines of the form, against the familiarity of the urban space it is installed within, coalesce as something of an absurdist intervention. This childishly simple depiction of the animals is undercut with the industrial nature of the metal and the hulking lower body, suggesting a sense of robotics.