Luftwerk: The Sun Standing Still
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Studio portrait of Luftwerk (Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero)Photograph by Dayson Roa -
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Luftwerk
Open Frame, 2025
Aluminum, acrylic and flourescent paintVarious sizes -
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The Solargraph series utilizes two sides of flat bars mounted perpendicular to the wall. On one side, saturated color diffuses onto the subsequent bar’s white surface. Each bar contains two colors in segments, and the heights of the boundaries vary from slat to slat, generating waves in aggregate. The curves are inspired by the smooth sinusoidal waves which trace how daylight gradually lengthens and shortens through the seasons.
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Luftwerk
Solargraph: Arc of Days, 2025Aluminum and acrylic paint
72 pieces
6 feet x 27 feet x 6 inches -
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In where the sky meets the earth: Horizon, Luftwerk uses two colors and geometry in an illusion of the horizon, a soft gradient that mimics hues of dusk and dawn. In the wall-based sculptures, one color is situated on the bottom of the elongated shape of the box frame, while the other is painted on a 35 degree slant. The colors interact in a phenomenon that deceives the eye and invites the viewer into the piece. Luftwerk has long created site-specific installations that have now taken a distinct form, separate from the viewer’s body, but that still evokes those interventions that reconsider one’s perception of space.
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Luftwerk, the Chicago-based artistic duo of Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero, develops spatial experiences mined from the creative possibilities of nature, data, and the built environment. Their installations, site-specific interventions, and artwork create a tangible exploratory experience, swathed in the simplicity of light, color, and shape. Each project of the duo builds and expands the body of work — the relationships between material and context that inform the experience of space, architecture, and landscape. The work is at once beautifully reflective of its site and also part of a greater understanding at the core of Luftwerk’s practice.
Luftwerk states, "what fascinates us is the combination of color and light, to expand our understanding of color. Our interest in spatial compositions takes this phenomenon of color and light interactions into a realm where perspectives seem to shift and a space transforms into an immersive canvas, inviting a viewer to breathe, look, and experience."In conjunction with Anne Lindberg's Of all colors and concurrent survey exhibition MANIFEST, Luftwerk transformed the Salon space at SECRIST | BEACH. See Landscape is a Composition installation below or the MANIFEST exhibition page for more.Installations and artwork by Luftwerk have been exhibited broadly at institutions including: Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, Alfred University, Alfred, NY; Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, Nashville, TN; Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA; Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich; Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL and Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago, IL. Throughout their practice, Luftwerk has develop a robust portfolio of projects that engage with notable modern and contemporary architecture including: Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago, IL by Gehry Partners; Barcelona Pavilion, Barcelona and Farnsworth House, Plano, IL by Mies van der Rohe; Ford Residence, Aurora, IL by Bruce Goff; Millennium Park, Chicago, IL by SOM; Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA and Robie House, Chicago, IL by Frank Lloyd Wright; and Netsch Residence, Chicago, IL by Walter Netsch. The artists have realized numerous large-scale permanent public and private commissions in Atlanta, Calgary, Charlotte, Chicago, Harare, Tampa, and Kansas City. They have received numerous awards, including project awards from the AIA Chicago, Graham Foundation, and the Illinois Arts Council. Their work is in several public and private collections including the Public Art collections of Chicago and Fulton County, Museum Buchheim, USF Institute for Research in Art.Their work has been featured in publications such as Artforum, Hyperallergic, Time Magazine, The New Yorker.
