Liberated and independent, without formal training, French West (1947-2012) remained in the shadows for almost fifteen years before his sculptures from the early 70s brought him international attention in the late 80s. quite late and Franz West's influence on the younger generation since the 90s has paradoxically helped to free him from generational determination and give him a timeless dimension. The complex character of Franz West, deeply individualistic and skeptical, and at the same time engaged in ongoing dialogues and exchanges, marked by a taste for play and sarcasm, led him to develop a unique work capable of "digesting" and go beyond all influences. Unclassifiable, counting almost six thousand pieces now listed, his work has constantly blurred the lines between art and life, felt in the most mundane dimension of him. He has also constantly played between the popular and the cultured, the active and the contemplative, the individual and the collective, the intuitive and the intellectual, or even art and craft.
The exhibition is a lavish celebration of the artist's work, from 1972 to 2012. It includes his early drawings, produced between 1970 and 1973 and rarely exhibited, as well as his first sculptures, Passstücke, made from 1973 to 1974. ; adaptable to the body of the visitor, the latter can manipulate them to "reveal his neuroses".
The exhibition also features a selection of papier-mâché works from the 80s and several collaborations with other artists, including Herbert Brandl, Heimo Zobernig and Albert Oehlen.
It brings together a selection of his furniture-works, chairs and sofas, Lemurenköpfe or Lemure Heads, his late collages and drawings, the models for his outdoor works, as well as a selection of his outdoor sculptures.
The exhibition is as much about the artist's exceptional plastic inventiveness as it is about his irreverent and sarcastic sensibility. By redefining sculpture in relation to the body, the viewer and the verbal dimension, Franz West has created an original aesthetic. Foreshadowing the "trash” of the 90s, has consistently reversed the categories of ugly and beautiful, repulsive and attractive. More than anyone else, she has redefined the notion of authorship and collaboration with other artists, from artists to musicians to writers.
The exhibition also reveals the importance that Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophy and psychoanalysis had on Franz West and Sigmund Freud, as well as his passionate relationship with music.
