The artist Isa Genzken: Living for art, with little compromises

Isa Hanne-Rose Genzken is a German artist with a huge international renown that has been living and working in Berlin (and very often in New York) for decades. She was born in 1948, so completed her 70th year of life in 2018 (on November 27th), with which she has had almost half a century of art.

Internationally celebrated German artist

For the German art world, Isa Genzken has been the “most internationally celebrated German artist” for several years; However, some of these art specialists have only discovered an oeuvre with a few decades delaying that has earned increased attention for connoisseurs of contemporary art since the 1960s/1970s.

Anyone who abbots this as unbelievable may z. For example, make it clear that the completely new world of information and communication of the Internet has been in existence for almost 20 years, but this fact only noticed our traditional media a rather short time ago ...

There are also some reasons why Isa Genzken is one of the artists who are underestimated in general perception. Dealing with ISA Genzken and her work is definitely worth it for every art lover, there is a lot to discover with this artist.

Isa Genzken's departure into the world of art

art and culture in 1948, so shortly after the Second World War

The father was a doctor, the mother worked in the pharmaceutical industry, but had attended an acting school, the family lived in Schleswig-Holstein in peaceful Bad Oldesloe, near Lübeck and the famous Timmendorfer Baltic Sea edge.

The former spa in this premium location, in which even the town hall (with Gänselieselbrunnen, bit.ly/2BK6AF3 ) and the tax office ( bit.ly/2a0hwv3 ), offered the best prerequisites for a beautiful (early) youth. The family background maybe as well; There is even said to have given real grandparents with interest in grandchildren, to which ISA Genzken is said to have had a more intimate relationship.

In 1960 the Genzken family moved to Berlin and thus with the 12 -year -old Isa Genzken in the middle of the heart of contemporary events, from August 1961 a very centered place of contemporary scene. But Isa Genzken was never limited to the German perspective, but traveled to New York for the first time in early teenage age to visit her aunts living in Midtown Manhattan (from the end of the 1960s to the present day, Genzken was in New York almost every year, partly for months of stay).

From 1966 Genzken began to draw; At that time, she also met the art historian, publicist and exhibition curator Benjamin HD Buchloh, who lived in Berlin at that time, later to teach art history at Harvard University, and to accompany the Genzkens work competently and critically.

After graduating from high school from 1968 to 1971, painting at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg, from 1972 art history and philosophy at the University of Cologne, 1973 photography and graphics in Berlin and until 1977 Art at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf.

Surrounded by teachers and fellow students who had shaped the German art world (Marcel Broodthaers, Benjamin Buchloh, Gerhard Richter , Gregor Stemmrich, Joseph Beuys , Katharina Fritsch, Blinky Palermo , Thomas Struth, to name just), she achieved a premium conclusion that qualified her for visiting a master class; In this case the master class of Gerhard Richter.

From the start in the cosmopolitan province, art interest and art education ISA Genzken had continuously brought closer to the heart of German art events.

Which was certainly not to Berlin (which was already quite sex in 1973, but was also completed by the rest of the world and at least felt even further away from the capital honor), but Düsseldorf, strongly determined on the way to Schicki-Micki and higher consecration.

Perhaps because Isa Genzken wanted to penetrate deeper into the heart of art events, she also married in a wise anticipation, who, in a not very distant future, kept the heart of German art events almost alone for most Germans: her Professor Gerhard Richter (at the time of the wedding 1982 did not quite come to the art of art, but well on the way).

Before with Gerhard Richter and divorce

This connection failed in 1993, which is why the marriage was divorced in 1994 (10 years seemed to be a good average period for "disenchantment" when a woman marries the first man to really impress her).

Isa Genzken had the divorce and then her difficulties, but remained well busy in art and soon moved back to her old hometown of Berlin.

There was enough to do for artists at the time: Berlin had shaken a little after the fall of the wall, but from the early 1990s it was on the way to the city of independent artists.

Therefore, today no longer needs to be dealt with in the divorce and the like, not just because there would be hardly anything new to add:

The search for "Isa Genzken" + "Divorce" results in enough articles in which you can find out more about the type and duration of this divorce and its consequences. So we save you "touching insights" in the life "of the otherwise extremely public -shy artist", even for closer employment with the topic of coping with separation, you have not caught the right platform.

Better look at Moma.org Isa Genzken shortly after the marriage and your picture of "Meister Gerhard" (approx. 1983) and think about how serious work and appearance of the (35-year-old) artist are meant ... and follow the short but exciting view of search engine uniform and medial divorce scandalism with adequate cynicism:

Isa Genzken and the online media

The internet search query "Isa Genzken"+"Divorce" brings 558 entries on 10 pages in the best-known search engine, with an average of 10 web appearances per page, around 5,600 articles on the artist's life change. Apparently 558 entries, because the entries "crumble" during view, on page 7 there are suddenly only 557 results, on page 8 556, on page 9 89, which also gives the page 10 because it is no longer occupied.

This could be explained, for example, that the search engine's algorithm continues to work after the first results sorting, which is certainly useful in terms of speed. However, if the first page promises by 5,600 results, of which remain on the last page 90 - almost every search result falsely informs about the general interest in the term you are looking for, because almost nobody clicks through to the last page.

The 89 results actually exist is actually about the divorce of Genzken or their unpleasant consequences. 3 x is about the awarding of the Gosla Kaiserring on Genzken 23 years after the divorce; 6 x by genzken-retrospectives at least a decades and a half after divorce; 10 x around Gerhard Richter (and only for him); 34 x somehow about art or something completely different, but the name Isa Genzken appears; 13 x something completely different, without the name Isa Genzken showing: German-English translations, Eva Hesse, Martin Drescher, Tina Turner (who marries on the Zurich lake), winter packages of Caritas, poisoned baby food, specialist books for language + literature, veronica Ferres (which also happened), event tips for the state of Brandenburg, a magazine, a magazine, a magazine, a magazine Naming Victory Column, divorce of mankind in believing and non -believing and camill liver.

4 days later there are 900 results suddenly, which are purring on page 12 to 114; A new article on the requested topic is not included in the 25 mysteriously added results. For the request "Gerhard Richter"+"Divorce", the search engine on the 1st page promises to read an incredible 74,800 publications to read more than enough for a human life - with the 178 results left on page 18, there is only a single article that deals with "Gerhard Richter" and "divorce", but only the known articles on the "suffering of ISA G."

If the search question is not about characters (which have apparently become irrelevant, although they still "apply" according to FAQ), but on "Settings", "Search pages that all of these words contain", the matter is not better: 858 results on page 1, 856 results from page 5, 119 results on the last page 12; The same colorful mixed stuff, often far from the topic.

In all of these search results, an article addresses that Genzken-Kunst is difficult to understand-but this is obviously not to be understood at all, the way the best-known search engine shows the reality (which means the actual performance of this search engine apart from any conspiracy theory).

Even less is to be understood why over 90 % of people in the (former) country of poets and thinkers always use one search engine that only enables thorough information after great time and work. Not even 10 % of the Germans also use alternative search engines such as Startpage - with the "Isa Genzken"+"divorce" 51 results on 6 pages, which can also be opened anonymously (and thus largely without dangers for the searcher).

A short time ago, the articles about Isa Genzken's private life also took up a lot of space in the search results when looking for "Isa Genzken" alone to learn something about the artist. But media reporting is currently changing: Since Isa Genzken has been awarded the Goslaer Kaiserring 2017 or since the news about this high award was published, it has slowly put on to the last "I write the world as I like" editorial team that the artist Isa Genzken has long had a huge influence on the world of contemporary art.

Perhaps among journalists, in view of this embarrassing example, there are even more productive people out there that journalists have to strive for reporting because the attention of these people applies and not publications about themselves or their work (and among readers that they only get information if journalists are paid with the income of publications and not just mediamogule or shareholders)?

Berlin's new National Gallery celebrates the artist's 75th birthday with a special exhibition

Isa Genzken, the artist, turned away from the Orthodox principles of modernity early on. new National Gallery in Berlin presents an exhibition that shows how it designs the social space in a different way - playful, open, pleased and queer.

In this festive framework, the new National Gallery  in Mies van der Rohe 75 sculptures from all creative phases of the German artist from the 1970s to the present is shown. Among other things, main works such as the 10-meter long "Blau-Grau-Gelbes Hyperbolo 'MBB'" (1981), "Atelier" (1990), "Venice" (1993), "Nefertiti-The Original" (2013) ( 2013) (2013).

The presentation of art in this room is sometimes a challenge, since the light inside is dependent on Berlin.

What can exist in smaller exhibition rooms acts in the wide hall such as flotsam, which was washed up on the cliffs of post -war modernity. Nevertheless, the Isa Genzken exhibition a calm and gentle atmosphere 75/75.

You can find a classification of this exhibition in the cultural part of Welt.de: Isa Genzken, which the educational citizen does not let in the apartment .

Also in the next article in this mini series on Kunstplaza ( ISA Genzken: an artist at the top ) is about the quiet but unstoppable rise of the world artist that is good for a good reason.

Keywords: best art in the world, leading German artist, Gerhard Richter, information quality of internet search engines, understanding of art

Lina cream

Passionate author with lively art interest

www.kunstplaza.de