Kunsthalle Wien offers, once again, the occasion to talk about one of the reference points of contemporary experimentation in art. The exhibition “I’m Isa Genzken The Only Female Fool” brings to our attention the varied work of Isa Genzken (b. 1948, Germany): an artist able to turn everything into sculptural material, as stated in the video “This is Isa Genzken?”, produced for her March 2014 retrospective at MoMA Museum of Modern Art in New York, which retraces the entire career of an artist, who was always able to reinvent herself.
Genzken creates concrete sculptures that express unconscious feelings through essential objects, showing an outstanding sense for volumes and the ability to put together different objects in free new ways that perfectly fit to each other. The show in Vienna displays the distinctive characteristics of Genzken’s research, focusing on the theme of the mirror, the column, the examination of architecture, design, space as a social sphere, along with her collaboration with other great artists. No less than Dan Graham, Gordon Matta-Clark, Jasper Johns, Gerhard Richter (her ex-husband), Wolfgang Tillmans, and Lawrence Weiner are singled out to reveal their mutual esteem.
The artist, who represented Germany at the 52nd Venice Art Biennale with a multipart installation, which occupied the entire pavilion, wrapping the building with orange plastic net, uses a range of media that includes three-dimensional sculptures, pictures, movies, drawings, canvases and freestanding assemblages, all unusual and absolutely original. Someone said about her work: “she strikes the nerves”, but we want to add “in a well-proportioned way”. Playing with words, materials and meanings, she jumps from chaos to order and vice versa, combining ready-mades with real experiences.
The Exhibition at Kunsthalle Wien will run until 7th September and will be accompanied by a publication with texts by Joshua Decter and Tom McDonough.
