Geisterformen - Ghost forms by Bernhard Stimpfl-Abele & Alexander Schreilechner

Artist list

Alexander Schreilechner, Bernhard Stimpfl-Abele

As a contemporary jewelry artist, Stimpfl-Abele draws inspiration from his family tradition of glass manufacturing in Upper Austria’s Freudenthal.
For the second time since 2015, the artist has chosen to work with the theme of glass production. His current collaboration with Schreilechner will culminate in the creation of more than 100 jewelry pieces and large-scale sculptures using silhouettes from drawings of traditional glassmakers and their products.

Inspired by these historic drawings discovered in the library of the former Freudenthal glass factory, the two artists are developing and transforming the source material, discovering something completely new. They are utilizing the special technique of “hydroforming” to shape two-dimensional stainless steel into three-dimensional sculptures. The oversized pieces will be integrated into the “Path of Glass” history walk that winds through the forests and fields of the Freudenthal “Valley of Glass”. The sculptures’ mirrored stainless steel surfaces reflect the nature around them, melting into the environment and distorting its reflection.

Mirrored images of three-dimensional objects in the field of sculpture and jewelry let objects and drawings appear magic, alive, and in a completely new light. With this work, the artists are questioning if mirrored pictures are a copy or if they are a form of art itself.

A mirrored image depicts the “new” from two different perspectives: in one way, as a simple copy; or in another way, as a form of a mirrored image which shows another point of view.

The artists see Art not in relation to the old, the new, or the timeless, but much more about being alive. Old and new are not opposites; they belong together. They draw a timeline without a judgment of quality.

Therefore, a reflection is a copy in the form of a mirrored image, which is not a replica of the original, but a perspective of the new. As Socrates stated, “if a mirrored picture of “0” is a real imitation of “0”, and art is imitation, then mirrored pictures are art.”