(Villach 1936–2010 Vienna)
Untitled, (cast made of metal in rubber case (white)), 1975, signed B. Gironcoli, inscription by the artist: “Der Scherenschnitt, am Rand unten “Figur aus Metallguß in Gummihülle (weiß)”, pencil, watercolour, chalk on paper, 25.5 x 36 cm, sight area 24.5 x 35.5 cm, framed

Exhibited:
Bruno Gironcoli, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 1977/1978

Full-page illustration in the exhibition catalogue:
Bruno Gironcoli, Museum des XX. Jahrhunderts, Vienna 1977 Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich 1977/1978
Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck 1978
Salzburger Kunstverein Salzburg, Salzburg Künstlerhaus, 1978 Kulturhaus der Stadt Graz, Graz, Steirischer Herbst 1978 Allerheiligenpresse, Innsbruck 1977, p. 140

Provenance:
Private Collection, Munich - directly from the artist

How so? What makes it so difficult to establish a common denominator for the special quality distinguishing this grand oeuvre? The artist is hardly unknown, far from it. Major exhibitions presenting his work took place in Austria, in Germany, and in several other countries; the 1997 exhibition at the MAK left a particularly lasting impact. Key critics and influential historians have described and analysed Gironcoli’s sculptures as well as his equally stirring works on paper, discussing their formal idiosyncrasies and documentary content at significant length.
In light of such a substantial reputation, buttressed by a similarly successful tenure as a teacher, it becomes even more difficult to understand why even today the oeuvre meets with such perplexity, fascinated skepticism, and disenchanted consternation. Nor has the work succeeded in acquiring the prominent status it deserves, at least in my own considered opinion. The reasons for this oddly ambivalent reaction, I believe, do not primarily originate in the works themselves but rather in the fact that they cannot be attributed to any of the major movements of the twentieth century nor have given rise to a separate ‘school’ of their own.
For one thing, the artist has conspicuously refrained from closely associating himself with so-called ‘high art’ in all its changing forms, despite a certain distant affinity with Giacometti and Beuys, Arte Povera, or Minimal Art. Naturally, readymade and installation likewise figured in Gironcoli’s development as an artist. However, as a rule he focused not so much on the high but rather on the low. In an interview with Christian Reder, who we have to thank for a highly enlightening essay on the artist, Gironcoli once described a major source of his inspiration in the following terms:

“In department stores, I kept checking out plastic mugs, VIM and ATA bottles, soap dishes, boxes; the kind of things that don’t represent the world of luxury but are necessary part of people’s everyday life. Nothing left me untouched. I sought to rediscover the significant in the insignificant. What impressed me was the worldly self-confidence of these thin-skinned things. Although their design is of no interest whatsoever, the lowest of the low, it still has some peculiar quality, a quality I investigated further … In my thoughts, in my aspirations, I was much too strongly opposed to bourgeois standards to allow their reintroduction via design. It’s kind of odd. Where I hung out, everything lacked quality, it became the sordid exploitation of an idea, and that was what I liked.” …
Armin Zweite, Bruno Gironcoli in: Bettina M. Busse, Bruno Gironcoli, Die Skulpturen, Hatje Cantz, 2008