Isa Melsheimer

born 1968 in Neuss, Germany

lives and works in Berlin

read inGerman

Isa Melsheimer studied at the Hochschule der Künste (School of the Arts) Berlin 1991–1997 in Georg Baselitz’s master class.

She has received several grants, including from the Schloß Balmoral, Bad Ems; Stiftung Kulturfonds, Berlin; The Chinati Foundation, Marfa; Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Perugia; Villa Aurora, Los Angeles; Goethe Institute, Lisbon; and Villa Massimo, Rome.

Melsheimer received the Kunstpreis der Stadt Nordhorn in 2008, and the Marianne Werefkin Prize in 2015.

Isa Melsheimer explores urban living spaces and the conditions for their design and change. She is as much interested in the formal vocabulary of modern architecture as she is in urban planning scenarios and the dynamics of social tension. Responding to the specific sites of her exhibitions, Melsheimer creates complex spatial installations with surprising leaps in scale, changes of perspective and material contrasts. Along with sculptures in concrete, glass, or ceramic, her model-like test set-ups can also include embroidered curtains, arrangements of collected objects, or ensembles of living plants. The sculptural work is accompanied by gouaches in which quotations from art, architecture, design, and pop culture overlap and interfuse. (Karsten Müller)

Selected solo exhibitions: Ernst Barlach Haus, Hamburg, Germany (2015), Ikob Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Eupen, Belgium (2014), Santa Monica Museum of Art, California (2012), Kunsthaus Langenthal, Switzerland (2010), Carré d’art, Nîmes, France (2010), Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Germany (2008), Stiftung Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, Germany (2008), Mönchehaus Museum, Goslar, Germany (2007), Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas (2005), Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, The Netherlands (2004)

Melsheimer’s work is represented in the collections of Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, Netherlands; Carré d’art – Musée d’art contemporain de Nimes, France; CNAP Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris, France; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany; MUDAM, Luxembourg, and S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium, among others.