Isa Genzken (b. 1948) is a German artist commonly known for shifting boundaries between art, design, architecture, media, technology, and the individual. Genzken’s work interrogates the impact of an increasingly commodified and interconnected culture on our everyday lives.
For Two Orchids, the artist created monumental white orchids using industrial materials, such as stainless steel and aluminium. Despite its overwhelming scale, an airiness hangs over the work, as its delicate form stretches along two stems attached to supporting stakes. The orchids are planted in a grouping of elegant, white blossoms. Rife with ambiguities, the sculpture underscores the fragility, elegance, and beauty commonly associated with the flower's image.
Two Orchids functions as a powerful celebration of life while its perennial existence inevitably suggests our own mortality.
Genzken has previously incorporated flowers into her totemic-looking readymade sculptures in varied forms, including her artwork Rose III previously installed in M7 in Msheireb, Downtown Doha.
