When the David Zwirner galley opened in New York in 1993, on 43 Greene Street in SoHo, it presented the work of Austrian artist Franz West.
This week, the gallery — which is now located in Chelsea — is again presenting West’s work — from that decade.
West created collages and sculptures that tried to redefine art as a social experience. He used everyday materials to explore the way the public interacts with art.
Several of his plaster and paper maché sculptures are not on pedestals, for example, but instead sit on top of liquor cabinets or cheap bookcases. The bookcases in the gallery are filled with books that West sent to Zwirner over the years, mostly about philosophy.
The earliest work in the exhibit is a group of sculptures West did for the 1990 Venice Biennale. Alexandra Whitney, director of research and exhibitions at David Zwirner, said the piece was meant to be touched by the public, which surprised many at the time.
“It's this very sort of wonderful, self-conscious act of, you know, picking up a sculpture from a pedestal, in a public exhibition context,” she said.
Whitney said West playfully included real people in his pieces. One collage features a man sitting on a toilet. “I was told that the figure on the toilet seat was one of Frank West's beloved sommeliers, who supplied him with his favorite wines,” she said.
The show is at David Zwirner’s 20th Street location until Dec. 13.
