Franz West Recent Sculptures

Franz West: Recent Sculptures is the first major US outdoor survey of the sculpture of artist Franz West (1947–2012, b. Vienna, Austria). Organized by the Public Art Fund, the presentation of seven sculptures at Lincoln Center marks the first collaboration between the two institutions. A second installation of sculptures is sited at Doris C. Freedman Plaza. Franz West: Recent Sculptures brings together recent and newly commissioned works made by West between 2002 and 2004.

Seven of West’s sculptures stretch in a colorful row across the entrance to Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza on Broadway, forming a festive gateway. With their looping arches and twisted colorful forms, they transform New York City’s premiere performing arts complex into a fantastical landscape. At the center of the row is Dorit, a 20-foot column of four knobby spheres, strung together like gigantic pink gumballs on a pole. Next to Dorit is Bronze, a slender vertical corkscrew whose title evokes the conventional bronze sculptures that often adorn urban plazas. Other works in this grouping include Couch (a fitting title for an artist who hails from Freud’s hometown), Laube, Meeting Point 3, Double Ring, and Ypsilon. Like the rest of his wide-ranging body of work, West’s sculptures are meant to directly engage the viewer. “I like art in the streets,” West has said. “It doesn’t demand that you make a special journey to see it, it’s simply there.”