Isa Genzken

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Isa Genzken (born 1948, Bad Oldesloe, Germany) is an artist based in Berlin.

Genzken studied at the Hamburg College of Fine Arts [1] from 1969-1971, the Berlin University of Fine Arts [2] from 1971-1973 and Dusseldorf Art Academy [3] from 1973-1977.

She won the International Art Prize (Cultural Donation of SSK Munich) in 2004 and the Wolfgang-Hahn-Prize [4] (Museum Ludwig [5], Cologne) in 2002. She has exhibited internationally at many important galleries and museums including Palais des Beaux Arts [6] in Brussels, Museum Haus Lange [7], Krefeld, P.S. 1 [8] in New York and Hauser & Wirth [9] in London. She is represented by Daniel Buchholz [10] in Berlin and David Zwirner [11] in New York.

Genzken has been making inroads into the art industry since the mid seventies. Her multi-media talents include using various mediums including sculpture, photography, film, video, works on paper and canvas, collages and books.

Drawing from the Minimalist concept of objective abstraction, Genzken’s work straddles the spheres of formalist purity and narrative interpretation. Entrenched in the process of making, Genzken’s work is the result of her own intimate interaction with materials, tempering the procedure of formal decision-making with the spontaneity of imaginative play. Kitsch objects such as plastic leaves, figurines, and an oversized wine glass carry their own associative references while operating as neutral compositional elements of shape, colour, and texture.

Exploring individual response to the built environment, Genzken’s assemblages create suggestive space. Plinths stand as neutral development zones for spontaneous construction; anonymous towers exuding power and autonomy become laden with the intrinsically personal.

The column for Genzken is a recurring motif: its linear purity becomes a critical field on which she explores the relations between art, architecture, design, and social experience. In her most recent work, Genzken augments her usually svelte and sophisticated formalism to create assemblages of maximum overload.