12/16/2023 0 Comments Franz west metal workWhen West showed his work, he mixed up genres and periods, and liked to bring in the work of collaborators and friends. The exhibition, organised in conjunction with the Tate (it arrives in London in 2019), presents a selection of 200 or so of these, suggesting ways in which West enriched numerous topics within contemporary art: relational aesthetics, artistic homage, bricolage and public sculpture. The Paßstücke are one part of a vast, multimedia corpus of work that numbers 6,000 pieces, ranging from maquettes and collage, to posters, furniture, film and monumental sculpture. The bare, curtained cubicles are his invention, too, providing a white cube within the white cube, and an ambiguous space somewhere between public and private, stage and dressing room. Within this first room are numerous of his Paßstücke (an invented neologism meaning something close to “adaptable fragments”), several of which can be handled, hugged, clutched and caressed during the show’s run. West placed interaction at the centre of his art, prioritising his viewer’s physical engagement with the work he made. The jovial, slightly self-conscious atmosphere is courtesy of Austrian sculptor Franz West (1947-2012), with the scene unfolding in the opening room of his posthumous retrospective currently at the Centre Pompidou. It is a Monday morning, but there is a peculiar sense of playfulness in the air. The playful scene melts away as it began, the participants returning to the flow of visitors passing through the gallery space. A knot of onlookers gathers round, while a gallery invigilator offers words of encouragement. In the neighbouring cabin, two women balance a strange, misshapen baton between them, gripping each other’s arms. She stands and draws a clinical white curtain across the cabin in which they are standing, screening them both as she hands him the phone. He juts out a shoulder and poses theatrically for the woman he is with, who crouches next to him with her iPhone, laughing. A protuberance of white papier-mache and plaster balloons from one end of the staff. Photo © Philippe Migeat - Centre Pompidou.Ī man dressed in a light, rainproof jacket hooks his arm around a long metal rod. Today, West’s pronounced aesthetic and philosophy remain paramount, embraced by an increasingly wide audience.Franz West retrospective – playfulness is in the air From his diminutive drawings to his large Pepto-Bismol pink sculptures, Franz West's world will leave you feeling slightly scrambled, but wholly absorbedįranz West retrospective, installation view, Pompidou Centre, Paris. ‘Fifteen years ago, Franz and I showed in the same Vienna gallery and I was struck then by his domestic design sensibility while crossing over into serious sculpture,’ says Heilmann. Private collectors include London auctioneer Simon de Pury and Upper East Side/London dealer Dominique Levy, along with Andrew Hall – founder of the Hall Art Foundation in Reading, Vermont – and artist Mary Heilmann. ‘True to West's vision, the works have drawn a devoted following of collectors,’ says Wingate. High profile museums like Centre Georges Pompidou and the MAXXI in Rome hold examples of West’s design in their permanent collections. Nor is West’s work solely marked by spare lines and beige upholstery there’s a metal coat rack of sinuous pink squiggles and chairs punched up with bold palettes. The works on view include sofas upholstered in raw linen and tables with steel legs encased in cardboard tubing. ‘Transcending the entrenched status of art as object for pure contemplation, West designed these furniture works as constituents of sculpture that are as elemental as they are convivial,’ says Ealan Wingate, the Gagosian's New York director. This month, New York's Gagosian Gallery outpost is celebrating his distinctive design with new editions of his works, produced by Franz West Privatstiftung in West’s Vienna studio by his staff. But this range of the designer's furniture, initially launched from 1992–2011, is rooted in more than mere functionality. The late Austrian sculptor, designer and installation artist Franz West, who was honoured with the Venice Biennale Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement back in 2011, continues to be feted internationally for his pioneering oeuvre, reflecting and encompassing participation, play and design.
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