'BOTANICAL GARDEN' IS WILDLY CULTIVATED

German artist Isa Genzken first came to prominence in the 1970s. This exhibition, Botanical Garden at Inverleith House, focuses on Genzken’s work of the last ten years. There is a mixture of sculptures created with found objects, dressed-up mannequins and collages with mirrors, photographs and paint splatters.

One of the most intriguing pieces from this exhibition is ‘Flag’ (2004) in Room 1, comprising aluminium panels and strips of tape made forming the German flag. The aluminium is not reflective and if makes your reflection blurred. The tape strip is not consistent, its gridded panels are uneven and you wonder what is behind it. Something has broken the tape and got through the aluminium panel and is not coming back. It makes for frustrating viewing but that’s also why it’s intriguing.

In Room 3 a large collage, ‘Untitled’ (2012) occupies one of the walls which are filled with colour prints, ribbons, photographs and more (right). One of the photographs is by Richard Avedon of Roberto Lopez, Oil Field Worker.  This photo combined with the artificial flowers at the foot of the piece reminded me of a memorial or shrine. Is this a shrine to Roberto Lopez or to Richard Avedon? It is up to the viewer to decide.

Toy figures and a gas mask sit on top of a large plinth for ‘Untitled’ (2014) in Room 6. It’s as if the spray-paint spattered toy figures have been caught in the artist’s creativity. A child caught in an adult environment or even the artist not wanting to let go of her childhood. The gas mask could be a constant reminder that for those, like Genzken, born in 1940s Germany, the Second World War is always present in memories. Put with the toy figures, it serves as a reminder that the children from this time were born into a very adult world. No time for child’s play or you’ll get caught in the crossfire.

My favourite piece of the exhibition is ‘Untitled’ (2012) in Room 7 (pictured right). A small mannequin is wrapped in a plastic jacket tied together with silver foil. To top it off, a riot helmet sits on its head. The tape reminded me of a strait jacket, the mannequin or youthful person wants to fight, protest or start a revolution but something is holding it back. Next to the mannequin is a shopping bag for the upmarket shop Budapester. Could consumerism be holding the youth of today back?

The title of the show, Botanical Garden, may have been influenced by its location but it could also be a metaphor for Genzken’s own work. Plants and trees are wild but in a botanical garden they are controlled and sculpted in a particular way. Genzken’s work is the same; it’s wildly chaotic but you get the sense that everything is put together with precision. The botanist is the artist of the garden, in a studio you can imagine Genzken styles her work and lets it grow in its own peculiar way. The decorated mannequins that are dotted throughout the exhibition are striking sculptures but I would like to see them in a shop window and see a shopper’s reaction to them.

Botanical Garden will not be to everyone’s taste – I still can’t decide whether it’s to my own. Art doesn’t always have to be nice to look at. What’s important is that we are challenged and that we are made to think. I’m still thinking about it, and rather relieved I don’t have to give it a star rating.  —Rhys Fullerton

Botanical Garden continues at Inverleith House, Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh until 28 September.

Photography is not allowed within the exhibition. Images used here are © Isa Genzken. Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin. Photograph: Michael Wolchover.