Franz West
Franz West ( born February 16, 1947 in Vienna, † July 25, 2012 ibid ) was one of the most important contemporary visual artists in Austria.
He lived and worked in Vienna and made primarily in the area of three-dimensional Visual Design (plastic, environments, installations ) a name. However, performances, graphics and posters can be found in his work.
Life
West studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Bruno Giro coli. First exhibitions followed in the 1980s, but his involvement with the sculpture began earlier with the so-called " fitting pieces ": free, portable, indefinable forms of plaster, papier-mâché or metal, which are placed as supports, prosthetic or growths on the body could. So he wanted to illustrate neuroses among other things: "I honestly believe that if you could see neuroses, they saw like ". Communication and interaction with and through the arts has always been a fundamental theme of his work. Starting in 1987, emerged seating of all kinds, alienated, ironically, strung from prefabricated components or with fabric. The pieces of furniture in recent years address the question of the boundary between art object and object of utility, which has become an ever caring for companion discussions of fine art since the early 20th century. 1993 West designed the Austrian contribution to the Venice Biennale. From 1992 to 1994 he held a professorship at the Städel School in Frankfurt am Main held. Works by the artist were on display in 1992 at the documenta IX in 1997 at documenta X in Kassel.
West's older brother was the Viennese "workers poet " Otto Kobalek (1930-1995), a Viennese original in the context of Helmut Qualtinger. Designed for the 2009/2010 season at the Vienna State Opera, Franz West as part of the museum designed in progress exhibition series " Iron Curtain " the big picture "Three - From process to temperament ".
2011 West was awarded the Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale of honor lion. West was awarded an honorary grave of Vienna at the Central Cemetery.