Franz West: Where Is My Eight?

Texts by Eva Badura, Klaus Goerner, Georg Grooelle, Peter Keicher, Andreas Reiter-Raabe

The focus of this publication is Franz West’s (1947–2012) Kombi-Werke installations, in which greatly differing individual pieces are brought together and then recomposed into new works. Gathering elements such as fittings, furniture, sculpture, videos, and works on paper from all periods–and even works made by artist friends–into grand ensembles, the Kombi-Werke are without doubt key elements in West’s legacy. An example is the three-part papier-mâché sculpture Redundanz: its starting point is the gouache Lost Weight (1994), with its motif of a dieting woman showing her oversized pants. Omitting the “W,” West transforms Lost Weight into Lost Eight, in order to derive the title for a larger work, Where Is my Eight? With 250 color illustrations, this substantial and inspiring volume, and the exhibition it accompanies, were overseen by the artist himself, before his death in the summer of 2012.