A Closer Look: Isa Genzken

Isa Genzken is a German artist who combines the bric-a-brac of everyday life to create unusual sculptures that shock and amaze.  Sometimes her work looks more like a pile of garbage than a sculpture.    But take a closer look, and you’ll see poetic arrangements of  color and texture balancing in space.  Her work has been aptly described as “contemporary ruins.”  Take a closer look:

Genzken’s work seems to warn us against taking ourselves too seriously, combining carefully-composed arrangements with a playful sense of humor.  Through this process, she creates inventive works that never cease to surprise me, and that’s why she’s one of my favorite artists.

-Robert