Last Chance: Franz West’s ‘Sisyphos Sculptures’ At Gagosian
By Something CuratedA self-taught, multimedia artist, Franz West is remembered for his spirited and unconventional sculptures and furniture, which often necessitate audience involvement. The artist concentrated on taking objects that are ostensibly utilitarian—like pieces of furniture—making them eccentric and playful. In his furniture pieces, West tended to parody high modernism: familiar, refined shapes formed out of coarse materials like papier-mâché or tape. Prior to the artist’s death in 2012, The Hepworth Wakefield collaborated with West to create a survey of his work, Where’s My Eight. The exhibit featured the Austrian artist’s memorable portable sculptures from the 1970s, Passstücke (“Adaptives”): metal and plaster objects intended to be moved and held in dynamic ways.
Presently on display at Gagosian Davies Street, London, until 27 July, are three sculptures from West’s 2002 series Sisyphos. West formed these amorphous sculptures out of papier-mâché, Styrofoam, and cardboard, before applying them with vigorous layers of paint. In effect, the sculptures adopt appearances of strange, organic rock formations. An unusual array of colours coat these alien forms; fleshy splotches overlap in Sisyphos V to make irregular drip patterns; naturalistic grey and terracotta tones encrust Sisyphos IV; and yellow and blue splatters propel Sisyphos VIII. Each ambiguous form seems at risk of toppling over, disproportionately heavy at the top, but is grounded at the base by scraps of cardboard tubes or wooden cylinders.
The sculptures’ titles allude to Greek mythology, reflecting the artist’s propensity to engage with philosophical archetypes in his work. The sculptures are named after the mythical first king of Ephyra, Sisyphos. Doomed by his own hubris, Sisyphos was condemned by Zeus to an eternity of repeatedly rolling a heavy boulder uphill, only to have the boulder roll back down as he reached the top. West’s sculptures relate the Sisyphean struggle, a continual and infuriating burden, to the frustration intrinsic to all artistic endeavours. While the sculptures symbolize the challenge of artistic pursuits, they also serve as realisations of the artist’s own Sisyphean struggle: to create in utter hopelessness.
To prelude its exhibit, Gagosian aptly picked out this quote from the artist: “Sit down in a wood, and immediately ants creep into your shoes, mosquitoes bite, perhaps a bird shits on you. A serpent might even frighten you, or inspire you to eat an apple.” This tongue-in-cheek speculation is certainly telling of West, an artist who found a delightful balance between comedy and philosophy.
Franz West: Sisyphos Sculptures at Gagosian, 17-19 Davies St, Mayfair, London W1K 3DE – Open until Jul 27, 2018
Words by Olivia Williams | Feature image: Sisyphos Sculptures, installation view, 2018 | © Archiv Franz West, Photo by Lucy Dawkins (Courtesy Gagosian)