Author(s): Alex Farquharson

Art

Isa Genzken's work encompasses sculpture, collage, film and photography. As one of Germany's leading sculptors to have emerged since the 1980s, her work is noted for combining references to architecture, modernism and art history with the personal, such an installation drawing together photographic images of her own body set alongside sleek, 'constructivist' forms. She is interested in the detritus of material culture, particularly architectural detritus of concrete blocks, glass, mirrored sheets and steel. The combination of materials in her work is remarkable, drawing together animal heads, transparent fluorescent plastic, spray-painted pinecones, found objects such as binoculars or kitchen utensils, and airplane windows, to name but a few. Her work can be uncomfortably 'ugly' - assemblages of unrelated objects and artist's materials (oil paint on store-bought action figures, for example) - or shining and beautiful, as with her magnificent 'cities' of 'New Buildings': small, impeccably crafted, glass and wood skyscrapers. One of her best known and loved works, Rose (1997) is a romantic public sculpture of a single long-stemmed rose made from enamelled stainless steel, rising over 8 metres in height and permanently installed in Leipzig's museum district. Genzken has been exhibiting since the 1970s, but her work came to international attention particularly following her impressive installation of skyscrapers at Documenta 11 in Kassel, Germany, in 2002. She is included at this year's prestigious Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2005). Genzken's work is represented by Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Neven-DuMont-Str. 17, Cologne 50667, Germany, post@galeriebuchholz.de, Hauser & Wirth, 196A Piccadilly, London, W1J 9DY, london@hauserwirth.com and David Zwirner Gallery, 525 W 19th Street, New York, NY 10011, USA, angela@davidzwirner.com