Isa Genzken was in her late 20s when she visited Michael Asher in California on a travel grant from Dusseldorf Academy, where she had begun teaching in 1977. At this time, Genzken was producing sleek lacquered wood sculptures known as ‘Ellipsoids’ and ‘Hyperbolos.’ This minimalist body of work, which lasted through the early 1980s, engaged with spatial and social aspects of line, mass, scale, color and movement through and around the works.
Since their meeting, Genzken’s diverse practice has encompassed sculpture, photography, drawing and painting. Her work borrows from the aesthetics of Minimalism, punk culture and assemblage art to confront the conditions of human experience in contemporary society and the uneasy social climate of capitalism.
In 1977, Michael Asher delivered small caravan trailer to the first Skulptur Projekte Münster. He had created sculpture out of experience, setting in motion his career-long project of ‘dislocation.’ In the years that followed, Asher’s interventions in galleries and museums included removing walls and doors, or keeping a museum open 24 hours a day. These deceptively simple architectural actions sought to expose the structural ‘givens’ of visual display and disrupt any sense of neutrality promised by galleries. Over a forty-year period, Genzken’s practice and Asher’s aligned in surprisingly fluid ways, despite the visual dissonance of their output. Both mined the formal tenets of sculpture, for example the base, or support structure – whether a plinth or a rolling cart for Genzken, for Asher a wall, window or even an entire city. Both artists present us with alternative (and often discomforting) environments and the critical tools to navigate contradictions around us.
In addition to her interior installation of all new works, this exhibition features in the Courtyard of the gallery, ‘Rose III,’ an 8-meter tall sculpture, modeled after an actual flower Genzken chose and sent to the foundry. The flower simultaneously defies and underscores the fragility and beauty commonly associated with the image of the rose.
Moreover, the towering sculpture brings to the fore ideas about the integration of architecture, nature, and mass culture. Genzken is focused less on the flower’s symbolism than the possibility of conveying a certain shine and shape, even resembling the mass-produced fake flowers found in dollar-stores. An interest in materiality, the bastardized legacy of modernism, and the relationship between the individual and the world is evoked in this exquisite sculpture, delivered with the artist’s unmistakable playful sense of humor.
Hauser Wirth & Schimmel (press release)

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

2 aluminum panels, spray paint, paper, photographs, tape, metal, 2 parts, each 150 x 120 x 4 cm / 59 x 47 1/4 x 1 5/8 in.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Nick Ash

Window, windowsill, radiator, plants, coins, aluminum cans, found objects. Dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo Brian Forrest

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Mixed media, trolley, tapes, printed adhesive foil, pens, metal lamp, plastic can, film container, air pump, cord, cable, mirror foil, stickers, plastic magazine stand, thermal mat. 83 x 105 x 61 cm / 32 5/8 x 41 3/8 x 24 in.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Nick Ash

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Collage with printed paper, tape and lacquer, 85 x 155 x 4 cm / 33 1/2 x 61 x 1 5/8 in.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Nick Ash

Collage with printed paper, tape and lacquer, 140 x 110 x 15 cm.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Nick Ash

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Pedestal, rug, spray paint, mixed media (globe, feather, plastic toy figures, artificial rose, carpet, tape, spray paint, wooden pedestal, 5 paper bags with tape, plastic tube, plastic card,
photograph) sculpture, 190 x 70 x 60 cm / 74.8 x 27.5 x 23.6 inches bags 50 x 120 x 110 cm / 19.6 x 47.2 x 43.3 in.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Nick Ash

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

window scraper, bills, coins, printed paper, tape, spray paint on canvas, 60 x 50.5 cm / 23 5/8 x 19 7/8 in.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Nick Ash

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Printed paper, photograph, lacquer, tape, mounted on plexi glass, 110 x 68 x 3 cm / 43 1/4 x 26 3/4 x 1 1/8 in.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Nick Ash

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Installation: 9 mannequins, mixed media (fabric, leather, wigs, lacquer, tape, wooden stool, glass). Dimensions installed variable.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Nick Ash

Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, 2016, Photo: Brian Forrest.
Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York
© Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York. © Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bon. Photo: Phoebe Solomon