Isa Genzken: Retrospective

Isa Genzken (1948 Bad Oldeslohe–Berlin, DE) is arguably one of the most important and influential female sculptor of the past thirty years. Epically diverse, Genzken’s oeuvre has been inspired by two grand themes: modernity and urban architecture. This exhibition, the first survey of this artist’s work in an American museum, and the largest to date, encompassed Genzken’s work in all mediums produced over the past thirty-five years. Although a New York art audience might have been familiar with Genzken’s more recent assemblage sculptures, the breadth of her achievements—which included not only three-dimensional work, but paintings, photographs, collages, artist’s books, performance, films, and public sculptures—have remained obscure in this country. Many of the more than two hundred works in the exhibition were on view in the United States for the first time.

Genzken’s work has been part of the artistic discourse since she began exhibiting in the mid-1970s. Over the last decade, a new generation has been inspired by the artist’s radical inventiveness. The past ten years have been particularly productive for Genzken, who has taken her interest in found objects and collage and created several bodies of work, which have redefined assemblage for a new era. These groups of sculptures range from smaller, diorama-like works to room-filling installations.