FRANZ WEST PRIVAT.
GEBRAUCHSANLEITUNG IM AKTIONISMUSGESCHMACK.
EXHIBITION AT WEIHBURGGASSE 26 - 1010 WIEN
2 MARCH - 22 APRIL
Franz West: Collector's collective presents largest retrospective to date with 400 works
In a spontaneous reaction, the art collectors - Reza Akhavan, Heinz Neumann, Gernot Schauer and Philipp Konzett - have decided to use the vacant premises at Weihburggasse 26 for the most comprehensive Franz West show since his death in 2012.
From March 2 to April 22, art lovers will be able to marvel at 400 works by Franz West, spanning his entire creative period (1970 -2012), most of which will be on public display for the first time.
The four collectors have collected Franz West with different emphases. Philipp Konzett: "That's why bringing our collections together results in the most comprehensive and in this form unique view of Franz West's entire oeuvre." The works are not for sale.
Vienna - Paris - New York
Almost simultaneously, the German-American gallery owner and West collector David Zwirner is opening two sales exhibitions in New York and Paris.
Due to disagreements in the administration of the estate of the artist Franz West, there has been no corresponding central point of contact for museums of West works for years. Consequently, the exhibited works by Franz West are subject to a certain redundancy. This is one of the reasons why the private collective of collectors decided to organize the private exhibition of 400 works in a very short time.
A catalog for the exhibition is in preparation in cooperation with the Franz West Private Foundation.
"Franz West is one of the most important artists of the 20th century worldwide. We want to pay tribute to this fact," concludes Konzett.
About the person Franz West:
Franz West is regarded in art circles as a legitimate successor to the Vienna Actionists. He developed his own position in the 1970s with his objects and sculptures. His "Passstücke" stand for a development that abolishes the strict separation of art-object and viewer/usability. Along with the Viennese Actionists, Franz West is one of the most internationally significant and successful Austrian artists of recent decades.
"Franz West Privat. Gebrauchsanleitung im Aktionismusgeschmack"
Duration: 02.03.2023 - 22.04.2023
Opening days Thursday to Saturday
Opening hours: NOON - 6 pm
Weihburggasse 26, 1010 Vienna, Austria
For guided tours pls contact: gallery@artkonzett.com
image: ©Archiv Franz West, ©Estate Franz West
MIROSLAV TICHÝ
DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHY
FEBRUARY 16 - MARCH 31
As an opponent of the communist regime, Miroslav Tichý did not have the easiest of prerequisites for a life as an artist. The Czech (1926-2011) spent several years in psychiatric institutions and also time in prison - he became a social outcast. Tichý renounced all possessions and thus also built his own cameras. Lenses made of toilet paper rolls, housings made of cardboard and lenses made of old eyeglass lenses or ground Plexiglas - all held together by chewing gum, with a shutter release made of rubber band. With these cameras he roamed around with the maxim to take a certain number of photos every day. For years these were 3 films of 36 pictures each.
His favorite subject in photography as well as drawing, clearly: the woman.
With a voyeuristic yet reserved and cautious look, he almost manically photographed women in the swimming pool, shopping in the store and at the market or with their children.
Formally characteristic for the prints - and due to the technically simplest methods - are bromine stains, fingerprints, other impurities and the very often blurred contours of the photographed women. Tichý often pasted the self-developed photographs onto found paper or cardboard and drew various frames around the images with pens or directly emphasized individual spots on the photograph. In his drawings, too, he worked on the same subject over and over again. Often with black ink and without setting off in a sweep.
From 2004 on, the work became internationally known through an exhibition curated by Harald Szeemann, and further solo exhibitions in Zurich, New York or Paris followed. Tichý himself seemed completely unimpressed by his late commercial success as an artist until his death in 2011.
Recent exhibitions
7 October 2022 - 21 January 2023
Septbember 6 - October 1, 2022
June 30 - September 3, 2022
May 26 - June 25, 2022
February 16 - May 7, 2022
December 15, 2021 - January 29, 2022
November 10 - 27, 2021