Privat Lampe Des Kunstler II floor lamp (1989).
Franz West (Austria) 1947-2012.
 
Welded iron chain floor lamp / metal lamp fabricated of welded iron chain, mild hoaring evident from welding process, otherwise blackened iron finish / light bulb and socket left raw & unadorned / dimensions: H 170 cm.
 
Franz West was an Austrian artist who exhibited in internationally renowned museums and galleries for over three decades. Over the last 20 years, his influential oeuvre was a large presence in major expositions such as Documental (Kassel, Germany), Art Basel (Basel / Miami) and the Venice Biennale.
 
West's artwork was fabricated from uniquely ordinary materials, such as plaster, papier-mâché́, aluminium, raw steel, wire, paper, etc. Though he began his artistic career producing paintings & drawings, he quickly turned to collages, sculptures, portable maquettes called "Adaptives" ("Paßtücke"), environmental sculpture and furniture & lighting --- welded metal chairs & minimally-upholstered chaise longues, etc.
 
His notion as to how he views his particular aesthetic was summed up early on by the artist --- “It doesn’t matter what the art looks like but how it’s used!” In accord with this thinking, in 1980 West began to create dozens of plaster body objects, meant to adorn the face, worn around the waist or held in the crook of the neck.
 
Though these colourful works seemed to suggest costumes & props for the Carnevale di Venezia, they were far more ambiguous & less sexual in their abstractness. In their deliberate crudeness, the pieces leave the art performer looking insulated from all human contact, while trapped within their psychological constraints. But they also relate directly to his installations and performances, where West transforms galleries, museums, and public spaces into lounge-like, sociable environments for viewing his art by means of unusual yet comfortable couches, chairs and lighting.
 
“Privat Lampe Des Kunstler II” floor lamp is an attempt to allow the art viewer/collector the opportunity to decorate their private residence with a rather strange yet wonderful Franz West metal object, fabricated of unwieldly-looking iron chain, absolutely austere in its appearance & solely embellished with a disquieting raw light bulb.
 
Resultantly, it allows the artist the opportunity to encroach upon the owner’s personal, physical space with an anthropomorphic object that offers an insight into West’s unsettling art production --- with a work of art that actually works!!