Isa Genzken
06 Jul - 10 Sep 2006
ISA GENZKEN
July 6 – September 10, 2006
Isa Genzken’s work explores the space between official claims and private, artistic autonomy. Her sculptures—often located in public, architectural spaces—define an interface or a kind of edge where the personal and the universal meet. This finds its equivalent in Genzken’s method: with almost unruly freedom, formally and conceptually rigorous starting positions are broken down, resulting in works that can be read and experienced on very different levels. Within her work, there exist divergent approaches that could be perceived at first glance as breaks, but which reveal themselves on closer inspection as a continual focus on fundamental artistic issues. A central role is played by the selection and combination of different and in some cases differently connoted materials. Having worked for a long time with concrete, the material of Modernism, Genzken now often combines perforated metal sheeting, epoxy resin, and found materials and artifacts. The borders between soft and hard are not fixed, often colliding and overlapping. In her photographic works, too, Isa Genzken surveys the space between the personal and the public, be it social, institutional or in the media. Here too, she focuses on contrasting an external and an internal view, and on the place where the two can meet. To coincide with the exhibition at the Secession, for which Isa Genzken is making a new large-scale installation, Galerie im Taxispalais in Innsbruck will show a comprehensive overview of her oeuvre, including early work. The two exhibition projects will be linked by a joint publication.
Isa Genzken (*1948) lives and works in Berlin.
www.secession.at
July 6 – September 10, 2006
Isa Genzken’s work explores the space between official claims and private, artistic autonomy. Her sculptures—often located in public, architectural spaces—define an interface or a kind of edge where the personal and the universal meet. This finds its equivalent in Genzken’s method: with almost unruly freedom, formally and conceptually rigorous starting positions are broken down, resulting in works that can be read and experienced on very different levels. Within her work, there exist divergent approaches that could be perceived at first glance as breaks, but which reveal themselves on closer inspection as a continual focus on fundamental artistic issues. A central role is played by the selection and combination of different and in some cases differently connoted materials. Having worked for a long time with concrete, the material of Modernism, Genzken now often combines perforated metal sheeting, epoxy resin, and found materials and artifacts. The borders between soft and hard are not fixed, often colliding and overlapping. In her photographic works, too, Isa Genzken surveys the space between the personal and the public, be it social, institutional or in the media. Here too, she focuses on contrasting an external and an internal view, and on the place where the two can meet. To coincide with the exhibition at the Secession, for which Isa Genzken is making a new large-scale installation, Galerie im Taxispalais in Innsbruck will show a comprehensive overview of her oeuvre, including early work. The two exhibition projects will be linked by a joint publication.
Isa Genzken (*1948) lives and works in Berlin.
www.secession.at