Franz West, Am Brunnen vor dem Tore

In his exhibition Am Brunnen vor dem Tore, Franz West presents four massive aluminium sculptures "Green, White, Blue, and Bronze".

Conceived as “garden sculptures” intended for public use, they are confronted with a group of three delicate papier-mâché sculptures (Differential), which appear to withdraw, almost vulnerably, into the protected space of pedestals.

Two modes of production enter into a dialectical relationship with two modes of reception. The exhibition stages a contrast between the possessable outdoor sculpture and the untouchable (interior) sculpture—between diametrically opposed forms and surface treatments. Sitting, in its very discomfort, is metaphorically “defleshed,” while common sense is transferred into the realm of art in order to offer a surface—perhaps even a stage—for what West calls our “global Nazis.”

Is too much being squandered here? Does the freedom of artistic form become entangled with what is unavoidable? These and other questions arise in the encounter with this exhibition.

Originally, I intended to paint the sculpture lens-green (Am Brunnen vor dem Tore).

“If you do not come, the art will come to you.”
Poster design (Cake/Invitation), 2003
gouache on paper.