The everyday materials used by German artist Isa Genzken may seem disparate, but her complex work reveals the connections beneath the surface.
In her forty years as an artist, Isa Genzken has created sculptures, collages, paintings, drawings, films, and photographs. And the materials she uses are no less diverse: you are as likely to see a food wrapper and a cardboard box in her creations as you are paint and canvas. Now, a new exhibition at David Zwirner, presenting key works from the last ten years of Genzken’s career, reveals to visitors not only the variety of her work, but also the questions and concerns that motivate her.
Immediately capturing the eye are a selection of Genzken’s recent “tower” and “column” structures. Made from fibreboard adorned with mirror foil, spray paint, and even photographs of the artist herself, the structures remind us that the vast skyscrapers surrounding us rest on political and social foundations - but are vulnerable and fragile too.
Since 2004, Genzken has been represented by David Zwirner, and to walk among her “tower” and “column” structures and other works in the gallery’s Hong Kong space is to encounter her work in an ideal setting. Spread across two floors of H Queen’s, David Zwirner’s beautifully-designed spaces allow the variety and creativity of Genzken’s work to shine through.