
Two works: (i) Onkel Stuhl (Uncle Chair); (ii) Onkel Stuhl (Uncle Chair)
Comprising two woven synthetic textile works stretched over steel tubular frames, Franz West's *Onkel Stuhl (Uncle Chair)* blurs the boundary between functional furniture and sculptural object. The works embody West's characteristic interest in the relationship between art and the human body, inviting physical engagement while simultaneously challenging conventional notions of utility and aesthetic form. Their tactile, textile surfaces and deliberately ungainly forms carry a playful irreverence that is central to West's broader practice.
- Medium
- woven synthetic textile over steel tubular frame
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale
May 10, 2016
More by Franz West
Artists in conversation
Scott Burton
American · b. 1939
Burton similarly dissolved the boundary between sculpture and furniture, creating seating and table works that function as both usable objects and fine art. His pieces share West's interrogation of utility, bodily engagement, and the postmodern collapse of categorical distinctions between craft and sculpture.

Cosima von Bonin
German · b. 1962

Von Bonin incorporates woven and soft textile materials into three dimensional sculptural works that carry a deliberately playful and irreverent mood, much like West's woven synthetic surfaces. Her practice similarly merges functional or domestic references with a postmodern sculptural sensibility and an emphasis on tactile material presence.

Mike Kelley
American · b. 1954

Kelley frequently used soft, textile based materials and ungainly fabricated forms to create sculptures that provoke bodily and psychological responses, paralleling West's interest in the relationship between art objects and the human body. Both artists share a deliberately irreverent, playful aesthetic that subverts expectations of sculptural refinement and conventional utility.
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