An Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, dated 2023
An Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, dated 2023

Franz West

David Zwirner is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by Austrian artist Franz West (1947–2012) on view at the gallery’s Los Angeles location. This exhibition surveys a range of West’s sculptures, works on paper, and installations produced between the late 1970s and early 2000s.

This is the eleventh presentation of the artist’s work at David Zwirner. During his lifetime, West presented several solo exhibitions at David Zwirner, in 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998 (with Heimo Zobernig), and 1999. The gallery further organized an exhibition of the artist’s early work in 2004, a small survey in 2009, a show in 2014 that focused on work from the 1990s—accompanied by a catalogue published by David Zwirner Books, with essays by Eva Badura-Triska, Veit Loers, and Bernhard Riff—and an overview of the artist's work in London in 2019. Earlier this year, concurrent exhibitions of West’s work were on view at the gallery’s Paris and New York locations.

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Image: Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2023

Dates
October 26December 16, 2023
Opening Reception
Thursday, October 26, 6–8 PM
Gallery Hours
Tues—Sat 10am–6pm
A photo of Franz West in his studio, Vienna, dated 1995

Franz West in his studio, Vienna, 1995

Franz West in his studio, Vienna, 1995

Emerging in the early 1970s, Franz West developed a unique aesthetic that engaged equally high and low reference points and privileged social interaction as an intrinsic component of his work.

This exhibition in Los Angeles follows two major institutional presentations of West’s work in the city: the survey exhibition To Build A House You Start With the Roof, on view at LACMA in 2009, and his first American site-specific museum installation, Test, presented on the roof of MOCA in 1994.

A Photo copyright Museum Associates/LACMA of An Installation view, Franz West: To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work, 1972-2008, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, dated 2009.

Installation view, Franz West: To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work, 1972–2008, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2009. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Installation view, Franz West: To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work, 1972–2008, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2009. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

A Photo copyright Museum Associates/LACMA of an Installation view, Franz West: To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work, 1972-2008, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, dated 2009

Installation view, Franz West: To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work, 1972-2008, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2009. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Installation view, Franz West: To Build a House You Start with the Roof: Work, 1972-2008, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2009. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Children visiting Franz West: Test, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, dated 1994

Children visiting Franz West: Test, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1994

Children visiting Franz West: Test, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1994

An Installation view, Franz West: Test, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, dated 1994

Installation view, Franz West: Test, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1994

Installation view, Franz West: Test, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1994

“West’s expressive take on things is jaundiced and mature, snarky but sophisticated—Benny Hill with brains. And … like an adolescent prankster with an old soul, its tone deepens and becomes more resonant over the next three decades, even though the die was cast right from the start.”

—Christopher Knight, The Los Angeles Times, 2009

An untitled drawing by Franz West, dated 1972.

Franz West

Untitled, 1972
Watercolor, marker, and pencil on paper
5 3/8 x 8 1/8 inches (13.7 x 20.6 cm)
Framed: 9 7/8 x 12 1/4 inches (25.1 x 31.1 cm)
An untitled drawing by Franz West, dated 1972.

Franz West

Untitled, 1972
Watercolor and pencil on paper
5 7/8 x 8 1/4 inches (14.9 x 21 cm)
Framed: 9 7/8 x 12 1/4 inches (25.1 x 31.1 cm)

While he was known primarily as a sculptor, West’s body of work incorporated drawing, collage, video, and installation, using papier-mâché, furniture, cardboard, plaster, found imagery, and other diverse materials. Throughout his career, he made collages that shared the irreverent aesthetic and humor of his sculptures, and that frequently employed found imagery. 

An untitled painting by Franz West, dated 1996.

Franz West

Untitled, 1996
Papier-mâché, paint, and paper on plywood
36 3/4 x 27 inches (93.3 x 68.6 cm)
Private Collection

Related to his ongoing practice of making collages that shared the irreverent aesthetic and humor of his sculptures, West often created unique posters for most of his solo exhibitions and some group shows, such as the present work which was made on the occasion of the exhibition Franz West at David Zwirner, New York in 1996.

A detail of an artwork by Franz West called Untitled, dated 1996

Franz West, Untitled, 1996 (detail)

Franz West, Untitled, 1996 (detail)

“These collages constitute a key element of his work from the seventies through to the present. A conscious ‘aesthetic of ugliness’ pervades West’s work, launching a biting critique of the down-side of postmodern life in consumer society, without ever pandering to the supposedly glamorous surface of this consumer world.”

—Robert Fleck, art critic and curator

An Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, dated 2023

Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2023

Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2023

A papier-mâché, plaster, and dispersion sculpture by Franz West, titled Passstück (Adaptive), dated before 1980.

Franz West

Passstück (Adaptive), c. 1979
Papier-mâché, plaster, and dispersion
14 1/8 x 19 3/4 x 11 3/8 inches (36 x 50 x 29 cm)

In the mid-1970s, West began creating his so-called Passstücke (Adaptives). These abstract sculptural forms are intended to be handled by the viewer in a manner of his or her choosing, thereby “adapting” the works to the viewer’s physical being and context. 

Installation view, Franz West, Austrian Pavilion, 44th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, dated 1990

Installation view, Franz West, Austrian Pavilion, 44th Venice Biennale, 1990

Installation view, Franz West, Austrian Pavilion, 44th Venice Biennale, 1990

Many of the forms are reminiscent of everyday objects, allowing the viewer to make loose associations while still handling the objects in an autonomous and unconditioned way.

A cast aluminum and plaster sculpture by Franz West, titled BI 11, dated 1990.

Franz West

BI 11, 1990
Cast aluminum and plaster
15 x 33 x 8 1/2 inches (38.1 x 83.8 x 21.6 cm)

From the very beginning, West encouraged people to handle the Passstücke in different surroundings, documenting this in photographs and, from the early 1980s, in film and video. Some of these images became material for his collages.

“By and large the development of Franz West’s work can be seen as a form of interplay between the production of sculptures and events and the manipulation of reproduction systems through which presence is mediated.”

—Ulrich Loock, former director, Kunsthalle Bern

An installation by Franz West, titled Passstücke (mit Video mit Verwendungstipps) (Adaptives [with video with usage tips]), dated 1996.

Franz West

Passstücke (mit Video mit Verwendungstipps) (Adaptives [with video with usage tips]), 1996
Papier-mâché, plaster, metal, and paint in two (2) parts with accompanying video and monitor on wooden board
Overall dimensions variable
Left Passstück: 27 x 21 x 17 inches (68.6 x 53.3 x 43.2 cm)
Right Passstück: 29 x 16 1/2 x 10 inches (73.7 x 41.9 x 25.4 cm)
Board: 1 x 87 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches (2.5 x 222.3 x 59.7 cm)

The merging of art and life was a primary principle behind the Adaptives, out of which West's earliest furniture pieces were developed. He conceived of furniture as both sculpture and a means for social experience, and by the late 1980s, furniture had become an important part of his aesthetic output that allowed him not only to subvert traditional exhibition models, but also to create a space for visitors to rest and reflect on the artwork and their experience of it. 

Furniture by Franz West, titled Diwan (Divan), dated in 1991 and 2015.

Franz West

Diwan (Divan), 1991/2014
Steel, foam, rubber, and linen
39 3/8 x 90 1/2 x 33 1/2 inches (100 x 230 x 85 cm)
A Photo by Albrecht Fuchs, of Franz West, Vienna, dated 2003

Franz West, Vienna, 2003. Photo by Albrecht Fuchs

Franz West, Vienna, 2003. Photo by Albrecht Fuchs

An Installation view, Franz West: Auditorium, documenta IX, Kassel, dated 1992

Installation view, Franz West: Auditorium, documenta IX, Kassel, Germany, 1992

Installation view, Franz West: Auditorium, documenta IX, Kassel, Germany, 1992

Franz West, Gelegentliches zu einer anderen Rezeption, Mönchengladbach, Germany, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, dated 1995

Franz West, Gelegentliches zu einer anderen Rezeption, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany, 1995

Franz West, Gelegentliches zu einer anderen Rezeption, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany, 1995

West designed a number of chairs, tables, and benches that were covered with different fabrics (including printed African textiles, nylon webbing, and raw linen) or painted in different hues, which were often used to furnish lounges, discussion forums, cafés, and other spaces within and outside of his own exhibitions. He created editions of chairs, divans, sofas, poufs, bookcases, and coat hangers, among others, making his work accessible to a broader audience for use in daily life.

Furniture by Franz West, titled Künstlerstuhl, dated in 2006 and 2015.

Franz West

Künstlerstuhl (Artist's Chair), 2006/2022
Stainless steel, epoxy resin, and acrylic lacquer
34 5/8 x 20 1/8 x 21 1/4 inches (88 x 51 x 54 cm)
A chair by Franz West, titled Künstlerstuhl (Artist's Chair), 2006 to 2022.

Franz West

Künstlerstuhl (Artist's Chair), 2006/2022
Stainless steel, epoxy resin, and acrylic lacquer
34 5/8 x 20 1/8 x 21 1/4 inches (88 x 51 x 54 cm)

Notable examples of installations of West's furniture include his 1997 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, in 1989 (where they were arranged amidst the museum’s old master paintings); and at the Venice Biennale in 1990, where West placed them outdoors at the Punta della Dogana.

Installation view, Museum of Modern Art, West Moon Project, dated 1997

Installation view, Projects 61: Franz West, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1997

Installation view, Projects 61: Franz West, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1997

An Installation view, Franz West, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna, dated 1989. Photo by Margherita Spiluttini

Installation view, Franz West, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1989. Photo by Margherita Spiluttini

Installation view, Franz West, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1989. Photo by Margherita Spiluttini

Franz West’s chairs installed on the Punta della Dogana, 44th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, dated 1990

Franz West’s chairs installed on the Punta della Dogana, 44th Venice Biennale, 1990

Franz West’s chairs installed on the Punta della Dogana, 44th Venice Biennale, 1990

“West’s singular history has made his social art unlike any other. Moreover, it is an art that defies easy categorization, slipping as it does between the pure and the applied arts, and the contemplative and the functional.… Yet, if it may be called an art of indeterminate and indefinite forms, it is one with an unmistakable signature.”

—Lynne Cooke, senior curator, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

A work on paper by Franz West, titled Homepage, dated 2000.

Franz West

Homepage, 2000
Gouache and collage on offset and laser prints in artist's frames in eleven (11) parts
Overall dimensions variable
Framed, each: 17 1/2 x 24 3/8 inches (44.5 x 62 cm)
A detail of an artwork Franz, titled Homepage, dated 2000

Franz West, Homepage, 2000 (detail)

Franz West, Homepage, 2000 (detail)

A detail of an artwork by Franz West, titled Homepage, dated 2000

Franz West, Homepage, 2000 (detail)

Franz West, Homepage, 2000 (detail)

A detail of an artwork by Franz West, titled Homepage, dated 2000

Franz West, Homepage, 2000 (detail)

Franz West, Homepage, 2000 (detail)

“In contrast to an initial skepticism and cynical contempt of any kind of ‘material fetishism,’ I have come to realize, over the years, that exploring the respective qualities of a material is, in fact, precisely what I want.”

—Franz West in conversation with Bice Curiger, 2004

An Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, dated 2023

Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2023

Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2023

A drawing by Franz West, called Untitled (Investigation of American Art), 1991 to 1993.

Franz West

Untitled (Investigation of American Art), 1991-1993
Collage and paint on paper in two (2) parts
Overall dimensions variable
Left: 12 1/4 x 16 1/2 inches (31.1 x 41.9 cm)
Right: 10 3/4 x 17 1/8 inches (27.3 x 43.5 cm)
Framed, each: 19 3/4 x 18 5/8 inches (50.2 x 47.3 cm)
Private Collection

In Los Angeles, a significant grouping of West’s self-coined “legitimate sculptures” from the 1990s anchor the presentation. The 1990s marked a period in which West became increasingly interested in different ways of subverting traditional notions of sculpture, creating a series of abstract, painted papier-mâché and plaster forms.

A sculpture by Franz West, titled Limerick, dated 1994.

Franz West

Limerick, 1994
Fiberglass, paint, gauze, foam, liquid, and plastic
87 x 16 x 28 inches (221 x 40.6 x 71.1 cm)

Limerick, which resembles a decomposing surfboard, was first exhibited in West's 1994 solo show at David Zwirner. The work was made on site with Zwirner’s assistance by applying thick layers of yellow paint to a surfboard. Slyly referencing his gallerist’s hobby and frequent pastime, West’s sculpture is at once recognizable and completely unusable as a surfboard, creating a playful disjuncture between object and function.

A photo of Franz West and David Zwirner working on Limerick (1994) for Franz West: Home Elements (A Retrospective), 43 Greene Street, New York, dated 1994

Franz West and David Zwirner working on Limerick (1994) for Franz West: Home Elements (A Retrospective), 43 Greene Street, New York, 1994

Franz West and David Zwirner working on Limerick (1994) for Franz West: Home Elements (A Retrospective), 43 Greene Street, New York, 1994

A photograph of David Zwirner on Franz West’s Limerick, dated 1994

David Zwirner with Franz West’s Limerick, 1994

David Zwirner with Franz West’s Limerick, 1994

“Most often, West works in the tradition of the found object, but the everyday things he uses he alters unrecognizably, layering on papier-mâché, paint, or metallic foil as a means of tackling enormous sculptural issues.… In the context of the museum or gallery, this would give them a certain radical subversiveness—embodiments of digestion, they mock what would digest them.”

—Helmut Draxler, art historian, critic, curator, and professor

A sculpture by Franz West, titled Telefonat (Phone Call), dated 1997.

Franz West

Telefonat (Phone Call), 1997
Two (2) artist tables and four (4) sculptures; metal, wood, papier-mâché, gauze, plaster, and paint
Overall: 68 1/2 x 33 1/2 x 61 1/2 inches (174 x 85.1 x 156.2 cm)

Humorously playing with the notion of the pedestal, sculptures from this period are often supported by found objects that include rolls of tape and paint cans, among other common materials, such as West’s own studio tables, as in the present work.

A detail of a work by Franz West, called Telefonat (Phone Call), dated 1997

Franz West, Telefonat (Phone Call), 1997 (detail)

Franz West, Telefonat (Phone Call), 1997 (detail)

A detail of an artwork by Franz West, called Telefonat (Phone Call), dated 1997Franz West, Untitled, 1998 (detail)

Franz West, Telefonat (Phone Call), 1997 (detail)

Franz West, Telefonat (Phone Call), 1997 (detail)

“There are traces of Giacometti’s surrealist plaster sculptures, Arp’s anthropomorphic abstractions and the central importance of materiality in Dubuffet’s painting. This multiplicity of references is an indication of West’s interest in reducing his own artistic subject and its imprint on the creative process.”

—Bo Nilsson, composer and lyricist

An untitled sculpture by Franz West, dated 1998.

Franz West

Untitled, 1998
Structural steel, paint bucket lid, papier-mâché, gauze, plaster, dispersion, and acrylic
25 x 14 x 14 inches (63.5 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm)
A detail of an artwork by Franz West, Untitled, dated 1998

Franz West, Untitled, 1998 (detail)

Franz West, Untitled, 1998 (detail)

A sculpture by Franz West, titled Three Times the Same, dated 1998.

Franz West

Three Times the Same, 1998
Papier-mâché, paint, plastic, gauze and wood
Overall dimensions variable
Left: 22 1/4 x 16 1/4 x 16 inches (56.5 x 41.3 x 40.6 cm)
Middle: 32 3/4 x 12 1/2 x 12 inches (83.2 x 31.8 x 30.5 cm)
Right: 25 x 16 x 12 1/4 inches (63.5 x 40.6 x 31.1 cm)

Three Times the Same is composed of three totemic, painted papier-mâché forms, each mounted on a pedestal of different heights, arranged contiguously. In this way, West sets up an implicit relationship between the elements, each informing the viewer's understanding of the other.

An Installation view, Franz West’s Three Times the Same (1998), on view in the 12th Biennale of Sydney, dated 2000

Installation view, Franz West’s Three Times the Same (1998), on view in the 12th Biennale of Sydney, 2000

Installation view, Franz West’s Three Times the Same (1998), on view in the 12th Biennale of Sydney, 2000

An Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, dated 2023

Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2023

Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2023

“The scenario for the Legitimate Sculpture … was different; West was not trying to protect the works or sug­gest a certain refinement by treating them as pedestal-objects. Rather, he was announcing their autonomy, and, in so doing, advancing the stand­alone rigor of his art to himself and the public at a critically important time. Not allowing contact with the work had the effect of diminishing its reliance on external animation, thrusting forward its intellectual demands.”

—Darsie Alexander, chief curator, the Jewish Museum, New York

A sculpture by Franz West, titled Pleonasme, translated as Pleonasm, dated 1999.

Franz West

Pleonasme (Pleonasm), 1999
Papier-mâché, plastic, plaster, glue, paint, and tape with painted wood and MDF artist's pedestal
Overall: 91 x 34 x 41 1/2 inches (231.1 x 86.4 x 105.4 cm)

The present work rests on a roll of packing tape, balanced on a rough, open-backed pedestal. The work was originally titled Gussform (roetliche Flammungen) (Mold [Reddish Flames Applications]), but on the occasion of his 2000 solo exhibition at The Renaissance Society in Chicago, West re-titled this and five other sculptures Pleonasme.

The sculpture's title is defined in the dictionary as "the use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; redundancy."

A detail of an artwork by Franz West, called Pleonasme (Pleonasm), dated 1999

Franz West, Pleonasme (Pleonasm), 1999 (detail)

Franz West, Pleonasme (Pleonasm), 1999 (detail)

An Installation view, Franz West: Pre-Semblance and The Everyday, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, dated 2000

Installation view, Franz West: Pre-Semblance and The Everyday, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, 2000

Installation view, Franz West: Pre-Semblance and The Everyday, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, 2000

An avid reader, West “engaged with concepts and paragraphs as though with an artistic material, molding them and trying to render them graspable and palpable,” Andreas Reiter Raabe writes. “I think that he worked with them as his material just as he worked with plaster or papier-mâché: that gave rise to paradoxical precision which, in most instances, led to something completely different from what the original authors had intended.”

Franz West in his apartment in 2006. Photo by Didi Sattmann

Franz West in his apartment in 2006. Photo by Didi Sattmann

Franz West in his apartment in 2006. Photo by Didi Sattmann

“[West’s work is made up of] many voices, many hands, many eyes. When West adds color to his objects and furniture, he frequently delegates the decision to objectors. When he creates titles, he regularly turns to linguistically talented people. And for the fulfillment of the artworks he is dependent on other people.… All of this is possible because the artworks have an open, inviting, and thoroughly generous character.”

—Daniel Birnbaum, curator and critic

An Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, dated 2023

Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2023

Installation view, Franz West, David Zwirner, Los Angeles, 2023

Inquire About Works by Franz West

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