Isa Genzken

bine

United States2352 Posts

July 06 2007 00:32 GMT

Sorry for the delay in posting here; I just got back from a month spent looking at contemporary art in Europe. We went to the three pillars of this year's so-called "grand slam": Documenta 12 in Kassel, Germany (Documenta happens every 5 years), Skulptur Projecte Munster 07, Munster, Germany, (Skulptur Projecte Munster happens every 10 years) and the Venice Biennale (which, obviously, happens every 2 years). I also got to museums in London, Paris and Amsterdam, so needless to say, it was a fantastic trip.

I'm going to start my blog with a post about a German sculptor featured in Munster and also the lone occupant of the German Pavilion at Venice: Isa Genzken. She has me more excited than anyone I've found out about since Guyton/Walker/Smith/Price and crew.

Genzken's representative works are usually built in series of like objects: a series of pedestals overtaken by abstracted flower arrangements, a series of vignettes of baby dolls framed by beach umbrellas, a series of paintings on airliner windows, each object embellished with shiny bits of plastic, or piles of coins, or scraps of fabric, or spray paint, or holographic sticker tape, or bits of glass or mirror. The results are a diverse body of sculptures, usually body-scale and often components of larger arrangements-as-installations, as was the case in her installation for the Biennale.

Called "Oil", her exhibition there wrapped the entire pavilion in commercially available orange holey construction plastic and scaffolding. Inside, her sculptures and paintings were strewn about mirrored walls, centered around a clustered field of suitcases topped with stuffed animals and venetian masks. Floating high above them, a trio of astronauts were attached to the ceiling with fishing line.

My opinion:

Genzken is one of the most exciting artists I've found out about in a while. Her formal sensibility is personal but also timely, and has proven flexible throughout her long but now-peaking career. She is acutely aware of cliches and trends of the moment, and presents them as such in a haltingly direct way (for example, her installation in Venice chided many of the surrounding pavilions featuring the utmost in trendy work: taxidermied animals, skulls, and shiny black paint), knowingly using stale images and materials to create stunningly complicated pieces. You tell me that the next thing on our list of things to look at in Munster is a bunch of beach umbrellas and baby dolls with painted faces and I'm less than excited. But seeing the actual results made me call into question Jessica Stockholder as the queen-formalist of assemblage; they were beautiful, humble, but cutting pieces.

Isa Genzken shows with David Zwirner in New York, among other places. Here are some images from his website:

Some more images from around the web:

Physician

United States4146 Posts

July 06 2007 01:02 GMT

I apologize for my pictorial opinion, but it is an honest one; fortunately art is subjective..

SiZ.FaNtAsY

Korea (South)1497 Posts

July 06 2007 09:43 GMT

I don't get his stuff TT_TT

Daigomi

South Africa4316 Posts

October 30 2007 21:24 GMT

Ahh, I've tried to make topics like this a few times when I still believed in forums, and found that very few people on general forums appreciated, or had even the barest understanding, of art. Because I have failed so horrible, I will support you fully and I promise to comment on every single post you make (granted that I notice it).

Honestly, I dislike the first two sculptures. They are just too garrish for my tastes (and for some reason the doll freaks me out in an uncomfortable, non-artistic way, not like say a Francis Bacon painting would freak you out, more like stepping on a frog might freak you out).

After the first two sculptures, I love everything, especially the third sculpture. Combined with the empty untouched stand, it looks like a slightly shaky doric column and for some reason constantly makes me think of modern architecture. It's simultaneously very stylized in its use of colour, and very plain in its topic and form. I really like it.

The fourth image... is that one of the mirrors you were talking about? And are the mirrors painted, or are they reflecting a painting, I wasn't quite sure from your article. Either way, I like it, but not as much as second last image. Aesthetically I just prefer abstract paintings/sculptures that are clean. The painting on the fourth image is clearly intended as a kind of psuedo-grafitti, but I prefer the straight lines of the second last image.

I don't specifically like the fifth image, no reason though. The sixth image is... well its obviously a critique on art, but I'm not sure if I like it. On the one hand I really like the way it looks, I mean, can you say awesome fucking glass chair? But on the other hand, I'm not sure if I like the baby (again) or the mother. And what is the painting on the pillar? I mean, which painting is it. I've been racking my brain all night now, and I just can't seem to remember. I think it's a Rembrandt from his middle period, but my art HDD broke a few weeks ago so I can't go look it up now. Either way, I'm not sure if I like the sculpture or not. It seems more obvious than the others.

I like the third last sculpture, I like the arrangement on the stand, I like the mosaic mirror pieces, I like the poster (is that what it is?) arranged around the stand, and I really like the leaves for some reason. It's very cute and playful. It's like the jazz age in a sculpture.

And the very last sculpture confuses me. I get the plastic wrapped wheel chair, but why the bowls of paint at the feet? Perhaps some obtuse statement like the feet are purely decorative or something. I don't know

That said, other than the first two, I really like them all. If I said that I didn't like them, I simply meant I wouldn't buy them. As artworks I still appreciate them. Very nice find.

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