MLR 1992

This work by Isa Genzken hums with a subtle, quiet energy, like a low frequency you can almost feel. I imagine it coming into being through careful application, each mark building on the last, a slow accumulation of tone and texture. It looks like she worked on top of a printed ground, spraying brown paint over the surface to create these shapes which resemble rings suspended from cords. The paint is thin, almost watery, staining the material underneath. I bet it was interesting for Genzken to respond to a ready-made background - almost like a collaboration. I can imagine her thinking “what can I do to upset this pattern, interrupt its flow?” The beauty of painting, and any art-making really, is its capacity to embrace uncertainty. As artists, we learn to trust the process, to allow intuition to guide us. We make our own rules, and we break them just as quickly. And in the end, what remains is this record of a journey, a testament to the messy, beautiful act of creation.