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.
Publisher: Walther König, Köln
Artists: Franz West
Contributors: Eva Badura, Klaus Goerner, Georg Grooelle, Peter Keicher, Andreas Reiter-Raabe
Publication Date: 2013
Binding: Hardcover
Dimensions: 9 x 11 in (22.9 x 27.9 cm)
Pages: 240
Reproductions: 250 color
ISBN: 9783863352813
Retail: $55 US & Canada | £27 | €34
Status: Available
Franz West
Franz West (1947–2012) began exhibiting his work in the 1970s and gained international recognition in the 1980s, with significant shows at such venues as the Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz; Secession, Vienna (both 1986); Skulptur. Projekte in Mu¨nster (1987); Kunsthalle Bern (1988); and the Institute for Contemporary Art, PS1, Long Island City, New York (1989). In the 1990s, the artist’s work was presented at the Austrian Pavilion of the 44th Venice Biennale (1990); documenta IX, Kassel (1992); The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Dia Center for the Arts, New York (both 1994); and the Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach (1996). A major, mid-career retrospective, Franz West, Proforma, was organized by the Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (MUMOK), Vienna in 1996 (it traveled to the Kunsthalle Basel; Rijksmuseum Kröller-Mu¨ller, Otterlo; Nárondi Galerie, Prague; Muzeum Sztuki w Lodzi, Lodz). The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid presented the traveling survey Franz West: In & Out (2000-2001).
