Haim Steinbach
Haim Steinbach, born 1944 in Rechovot, Israel, lives and works in New York. Since the late 1970s, Steinbach has explored the cultural significance of objects through a practice that brings together everyday commodities, collectibles, and artifacts. Known for his iconic shelf installations, he arranges objects with precision, drawing attention to their aesthetic, psychological, and social dimensions. By placing familiar items in unfamiliar contexts, Steinbach challenges conventional hierarchies of value and meaning, inviting viewers to reconsider the narratives embedded in the material world. His work occupies a space between sculpture, display, and conceptual art, questioning the act of collecting, curating, and consuming.
Haim Steinbach Editions
Unique Works
big brown bag
1992
From Wall Works
Slogan stenciled on a wall in black paint and bullet trash can. Overall size of installation 262 x 221 x 56 cm (103 x 87 x 22 in). Limited to 15 installations, with a signed and numbered certificate.
In this edition, Haim Steinbach integrates text and object for the first time in his practice. Borrowing the instantly recognizable slogan from the Bloomingdale’s shopping bag, he transposes its bold, rounded typography onto the wall, pairing it with a sleek black bullet trash can positioned just beneath the text. Both bag and bin are functional containers, yet through Steinbach’s precise spatial and conceptual arrangement, they become symbols – linked through their utilitarian roles and aesthetic forms. The trash can echoes the curves of the printed slogan, creating a visual and linguistic metonymy that shifts the viewer’s perception from function to form, from commodity to concept. As in much of Steinbach’s work, the installation transforms ordinary consumer objects into carriers of cultural meaning. Here, the tension between consumption and disposal, desire and waste, is rendered with minimalist clarity and subtle irony.
EUR 14,000
Untitled (Halco and Tour d'Argent Salt and Pepper Shakers)
1989
Stainless steel, glass, silver, 20.5 x 33 x 9 cm (8 x 13 x 3½ in). Edition of 15, signed and numbered.
This edition exemplifies Haim Steinbach’s signature approach: the presentation of everyday objects on shelves as a means of exploring display, value, and meaning. Here, he presents two sets of salt and pepper shakers – one an everyday, inexpensive pair by Halco; the other a refined, silver set from the prestigious French brand Tour d’Argent. Placed side by side on a sleek, mirrored stainless steel shelf, these objects become more than kitchenware: they are cultural signifiers, curated with the same attention as artworks in a museum. Steinbach’s use of the shelf as a “framing device” invites viewers to reflect on the emotional, aesthetic, and social meanings projected onto objects. By juxtaposing utilitarian plastic and luxury silver, he stages a quiet confrontation between “high” and “low” culture, mass production and exclusivity, the common and the elite. The arrangement is deliberate, echoing the structure of language, poetry, or musical composition – where meaning emerges through sequence and contrast. For Steinbach, objects are a form of vernacular – a shared visual language that reveals how we live, communicate, and assign value. Untitled (Halco and Tour d’Argent...) transforms two humble domestic pairings into a meditation on class, taste, and cultural identity.
Untitled (Thonet chair, Jackson guitar)
2019
Created on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the furniture company Thonet.
Handcrafted musical instrument, wooden chair by Thonet, 115 × 41 × 77 cm (45.5 x 16 x 30 in). Edition of 5.
For this work, Haim Steinbach placed a strange, handmade musical instrument on a Thonet design classic. In doing so, he alludes to a painting by Picasso featuring a guitar on a chair.
