Alex Farquharson Livres

Isa Genzken (b. 1948) is one of Germany’s most prominent artists. She is best known for her architectural sculptures that combine a Minimal aesthetic with the bright colours and synthetic materials of Modernist architecture. Her hybrid, colourful mini-skyscrapers combine mirrored sheets, fluorescent plastic, glass and concrete. She first began exhibiting in the 1970s and has exhibited at The Renaissance Society in Chicago (1989) and Documenta 7 (1982), 9 (1992) and 11 (2002) in Kassel, Germany, among many other prestigious venues. Genzken’s work is represented by Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Neven-DuMont-Str. 17, Cologne 50667, Germany, post@galeriebuchholz.de , Hauser & Wirth, 196A Piccadilly, London, W1J 9DY, london@hauserwirth.com and David Zwirner Gallery, 525 W 19th Street, New York, NY 10011, USA, angela@davidzwirner.com

Is Las Vegas, the capital of the Western entertainment complex, also set to become the capital of art? A large number of artists live there or visit often, Venice was partially reconstructed there, and the Bellagio resort and casino house an art collection that includes El Grecos and Picassos promoted as if they were Frank Sinatra or the Beach Boys. At this historic moment, art is losing the visionary power to which it used to lay claim and is instead drawing closer to the forms of the entertainment industry, from lifestyle and game shows to Hollywood cinema and music videos. In a paradoxical turn of events, the society of the spectacle has become a reality and Las Vegas is becoming the capital of the future culture industry. Dave Hickey and art historian Libby Lumpkin moved to Las Vegas in the early 90s. For Hickey, the Strip has served as a platform for his critique of the elitist and purist structure of values within the art world. In 1992, Denise Scott Brown, Robert Venturi, and Steven Izenour published Learning from Las Vegas, providing a seminal and radical reevaluation of the vernacular architecture of what was then one of America's most culturally neglected cities.

Hockney in the 60's was that rare thing - an artist at the forefront of the avant-garde of the day, and a well-known public figure. With his Yorkshire accent, bleached blond hair, owlish glasses and frank homosexuality he stood out at the Royal College of Art in London. This exhibition offers a portrait of the artist as a young man, in London and Los Angeles. His work of the time is marked by a unique pictorial wit. It is informed by the books he was reading, places he was visiting, people he desired, lifestyles he aspired to - and the art that inspired him. It is an exhibition full of allusions - to the homoerotic poetry of Walt Whitman and CP Cavafy, to Egyptian archaeology, to Modernism, children's drawings, furtive graffiti and the flat perfection of commercial art. Texts by Alex Farquharson and Andrew Brighton.