Franz West. We'll Not Carry Coals.

What Franz West began in the early 1970s with his hand-size "body growths"--the "Adaptive"--has since then mutated into a fertile living environment of sculptures, collages, furniture ensembles, walk-in rooms, and rooms to sit in. Organized into five chapters, each of which corresponds to a floor of the Kunsthaus Bregenz, where a surreal retrospective of West's work was recently mounted, "We'll Not Carry Coals" offers a serene presentation of the artist's witty, tongue-in-cheek body of work. From "Haini," 60 squeaky blue-green plastic armchairs modeled on a carved-out tree stump, to "Corona," a giant outdoor sculpture modeled, perhaps, on bendable drinking straws, West's work tickles the viewer somewhere between the diaphragm and the retina. Published in close cooperation with the Franz West Atelier, this book also features 50 heretofore unpublished collages from the artist's personal collection. — Testi: Schneider Eckhard , Sagmeister Rudolf et al. pagg. 288; 166 COL e 21 BN; rileg. rigida. Editore: Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2003.