In 1970, when the Austrian artist Franz West was only 23, he started experimenting with drawing, then quickly moved on to painted collages. At the time, Vienna’s Actionism movement was paramount. Rejecting object-based practices, artists were instead caught up in performance art. West, however, was more interested in America’s Pop art. His paintings soon evolved into portable sculptures made from everyday objects, which he called “Adaptives.” These would only become “art” when worn or touched. West died in 2012 at age 65, but left behind an organic and playful body of work. One of his large-scale installations is concurrently on view at David Zwirner in New York. —Elena Clavarino