Austria, 2015, Styrofoam, foam, lacquer, signed, height 80 cm, width 100 cm, depth 140 cm. (DRAX)

With a certificate. Prototype for a series of 7 specimens.

Developed for the first exhibition devoted to the subject of the “Salon” at the Ganz Neue Galerie in Vienna.

In this object, Patrick Rampelotto responds to the famous design of the “Knieschwimmer” chair by Adolf Loos, reinterpreting it in contemporary materials and a new aestheticism. Loos’s elegant piece of upholstered furniture has been turned here into a Styrofoam seat object. Yet the polyurethane foam covering the core results in the surface appearing as soft and comfortable as in a traditional upholstered chair.

Ganz Neue Galerie devotes itself to experimental design. The gallery considers the differentiation between “art” and “design” as limiting and outdated. Instead it seeks to continue such approaches as those of Russian Constructivism, De Stijl, and Memphis. The focus of the gallery’s activities is on the presentation of three collections annually by the Ganz Neue Group, which was founded by Breaded Escalope, Chmara.Rosinke, and Patrick Rampelotto. Moreover, designers, most of whom come from Eastern and Central Europe, are invited at regular intervals to present their works.