Isa Genzken

Isa Genzken Synopsis

New York's public-relations campaign is not likely to add "crazy city" to its already famous heart-icon declaration of love, but few would dispute the truth of noted German sculptor Isa Genzken's extension of it. Only a mind as oriented toward heterogeneity as hers could capture New York in all its insane glory. These three slipcased artist's books from the time Genzken spent in New York a decade ago are published here for the first time.

The collection both illuminates the working methods she uses in her sculptures and stands alone as a work of art itself. The books contain, as do her other works, thoughtful if sundry conglomerations of the items that shape our everyday existence from design, advertising and the media. Particularly important to her are the relationships in the urban environment between public and private space, artistic autonomy and collective experience.

These explorations, as a window into the mind of this important artist or a window looking out onto the city, will bring repeated enjoyment and insight.