Wind (Michael)

In her series Wind, which includes both wall-hung pieces and a new series of “columns”, Isa Genzken overlays existing materials to reassert certain themes which are constants in her art: first and foremost the involvement of highly personal and emotive components and subjective associations in the relationship between sculpture and reality. Whilst the columns of the late 1990’s clearly aped big city buildings and bore the names of people dear to the artist, the new columns in the series Wind like the new wall-hung pieces, are partly dedicated to Michael Jackson, an artist that Isa Genzken is passionate about. Michael Jackson’s movements become a sort of metaphor for the wind that blows through the works, lending them great sculptural power: the fabrics used forge a dialogue with an important element of sculpture and scenography in the history of art, drapery.

The artist’s high-tech touch also puts in an appearance: in her works – her world receivers – Genzken never passes up on the opportunity to work in contemporary references to materials or technologies. In this case she uses a special material – usually employed to screen car windows – as a covering for two sculptures. This signals the presence of a theme tackled in the series dedicated to the facades of buildings in big cities – the element in question is see-through but makes it impossible to see into the sculpture from the outside. Once again the artist leaves a sort of no man’s land for the viewer, an undefined space in which we are free to “reveal” and engage with the work in our own individual way.

—Letizia Ragaglia