Isa Genzken -Studies in Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin and Düsseldorf
Isa Genzken was born on 27th November 1948 in Bad Oldesloe. As the daughter of a doctor, she spent her childhood in a culturally disposed environment; from the age of 12 she regularly visited her aunt in New York and over time developed a strong interest in the art and culture of the USA. In 1966 Genzken created her first figurative drawings and, after leaving school, began her studies at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg with the painters Kai Sudeck and Almir Mavignier. She also studied art history and philosophy in Cologne and photography and graphic art in Berlin. She took photography courses with Kilian Breier, studied the art of Carl Andre, Barnett Newman and Elsworth Kelly, and read Theodor W. Adorno's Aesthetic Theory. At the Düsseldorf Art Academy, Genzken studied under Gerhard Richter, to whom she was also married from 1982 to 1993, and during this time, devoted herself to photography and sculpture as well as drawing. The art historian and curator Benjamin Buchloh recognised Isa Genzken's talent at an early stage and supported her career.
Photography and sculpture play an important role
Isa Genzken initially orientated herself towards Minimalism and Conceptual Art, but soon went her own way and set her own unmistakable accents early on. In 1974, she performed the Instructions for a Mental Exercise by American conceptual artist Bruce Nauman for seven days at the Konrad Fischer Gallery in Düsseldorf and documented her experiences and feelings for the magazine Interfunktionen. It is no coincidence that photography plays a major role in Genken’s work: for the object artist, photography has a lot to do with sculpture as both are spatial and depict reality. For an early project, she photographed the ears of passers-by in the USA and combined them with adverts for hi-fi systems that she had photographed from various magazines. She later developed her ‘ellipsoids’ and ‘hyperbolos’, wooden sculptures several metres long, the mathematically and geometrically perfectly constructed form of which was elaborately calculated on the computer - a visionary pioneering feat in the 1970s that was made possible with the help of physicist Ralph Krotz from the University of Cologne. Since 1986, Isa Genzken has been represented primarily by the gallery owner Daniel Buchholz.
For many critics: the most important living artist
Isa Genzken has taken part in the Documenta in Kassel three times since 1987, first with her ‘ellipsoids’ and ‘hyperbolos’, then in 1992 with sculptures made of concrete and epoxy resin, and in 2002 with her objects New Buildings for Berlin and Spiegel. In 2007, she represented Germany at the Venice Biennale, and that same year, the artist magazine Monopol named Genzken the most important living artist. Genzken caused a public sensation with her Rose, a realistic replica of a plant, which she transferred to gigantic proportions and presented in Baden-Baden and Leipzig. Around the turn of the millennium, she began her exploration of objets trouvés. Genzken collaborated with Wolfgang Tillmans on a number of projects, for example the installation Science-Fiction/Hier und jetzt zufrieden sein, which can be seen at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne. Genzken's name also enjoys a good reputation in Austria, where she has been a guest several times, including for the multi-part installation Wäscheleine (gewidmet Michael Jackson). Isa Genzken has received prizes and awards for her celebrated work, including the Wolfgang Hahn Prize from the Museum Ludwig in 2002, the Goslar Kaiserring in 2017 and the Nasher Prize from the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas in 2019.
Isa Genzken lives and works in Berlin and often in New York.
Isa Genzken - Works that have already been sold at Kunsthaus Lempertz:
