We are pleased to announce the opening of David Zwirner, a gallery located on the ground floor of 43 Greene Street in lower Soho. The gallery will focus on contemporary and emerging artists from the United States as well as from Europe. We will open on February 5, 1993 with an exhibition of new work by the Austrian artist FRANZ WEST. During the remainder of this season we will exhibit works by STAN DOUGLAS, ANGELA BULLOCH, KEVIN LANDERS and FRED EINHORN; as well as a special project by RAYMOND PETTIBON.
The gallery's inaugural exhibition will feature new work by FRANZ WEST. In this show, the artist's first one-person exhibition in the United States since his "Possibilities" show at the P.S.1 Museum in June 1989, FRANZ WEST will exhibit a series of new sculptures and an installation which includes a video made in collaboration with the Austrian film-maker BERNARD RIFF.
FRANZ WEST's work has always targeted the subconscious. Neither abstract nor figurative, these objects, sculpted from papermache do not try to describe specific metaphors or recognizable objects, but aim to unearth primal images. The ambiguous shapes of WEST's sculptures appeal to the imagination and invite a wide range of psychological associations. In his installations WEST creates an environment in which the viewer is asked to interact with his art. His "Pass-Stuecke" (fitting pieces) are meant to be carried around and worn on the body; his furniture, which he welds out of scrap metal invites you to sit down and communicate but also fosters contemplation and reflection.
FRANZ WEST was born in Vienna, Austria in 1947, where he still lives and works. He represented Austria in the 1990 Venice Biennale and has been included in many important exhibitions, i.e. "Westkunst", "Sculpture Project–Muenster", "Aperto 1988", "Zeitlos", "Metropolis" as well as this year's "Documenta IX"