Widely regarded as the pre-eminent European artist of his generation, Franz West (Austrian, 1947-2012) is known for willfully unserious, non-ideological, and sometimes mischievously erotic mixed-media drawings, sculptures, and furniture. Replete with contradictions, West’s work is often joyful, even silly, yet can be tinged with fragile vulnerability and an undercurrent of existential nihilism. It concerns itself—often simultaneously—with lofty philosophical pursuits and the basest of human conditions: laziness, boredom, drunkenness, or sexual desire. His intentionally crude collages combine awkward, isolated figures from magazine ads with slapdash coats of thick paint. West’s early Paßstücke (Adaptives) are bizarrely shaped small-scale assemblages—made of papier-mâché, plaster, and other humble materials—originally meant to be handled, worn, or played with by gallery visitors. His later, large colorful sculptures of lacquered aluminum reference and gleefully mock the usual formal decorum of abstract sculpture. This presentation of over 40 works in all media created between 1973 and 2005 has dense and intimate moments opening onto more expansive ones in precisely the non-chronological, non-hierarchical manner that defined West’s approach to art and life.

This exhibition is drawn from the Hall Collection and presented in conjunction with the Hall Art Foundation’s installation of West’s monumental outdoor sculpture Les Pommes d’Adam (2007), currently on view at MASS MoCA.

Please visit the William College Museum of Art's website for further information.