Passtück (Adaptives)

Franz West comes from the same cultural context that spawned Hermann Nitsch and Maria Lassnig but belongs to a younger generation. While the art of Nitsch is centered upon the polarities of suffering and ecstasy, and that of Lassnig on exag- gerated, though often self-mocking, difficulties of self-definition, the travails to which West allude are, on the whole, more mundane. Less overtly expres- sionist than that of his elders, West's work is no less full of feeling but the dominant tone is one of a wist- fulness and sweet melancholy. People are absurd, his sculptures, drawings, and collages proclaim in unruly chorus, but comedy has the upper hand over tragedy. The slapstick aspects of graphic work are part and parcel of West's sculptures and actualized for the public by them. In their various static incarnations his misshapen "monuments objectify a world little dis- posed to classical balance or rightness of form. Instead, everything seems on the verge of sprouting a strangely proportioned new component or of keeling over from lack of proper armature or support. Many look like out-of-kilter Jean Arps or Henry Moores made by a materials-poor art class, and more than a few resemble boulders propped up by tin cans. West's portable sculptures set this same principle into motion by appropriating the body of anyone foolish enough to pick them up and try them on for size These eccentrically configured prostheses have been slyly named "adaptives" by the artist, as if they some- how adapted themselves to the viewer/animator. However, it is the viewers interacting with these works who must adapt to the ungainly mass they have in their possession. This usually means assuming pos- tures at least as curious as the contour of the object itself. The gently subversive side of all of this is that almost no one can resist being such a fool. Counting on such Pavlovian responses, West has, with the will- ing participation of the beholder turned "holder," bridged the gap between traditional object sculpture and performance. A formalist of the greatest and most deceptively casual refinement, West is a sly provocateur and, like John Cleese, a master choreog rapher of silly walks. Text written by Curator Rob Storr for the exhibition catalog.