Over the last forty years, American artist, Haim Steinbach has been redefining the status of different objects in art.
The status of Earth itself is probably the most re-defined object in human history. I mean being upgraded from a flat mass to a three-dimensional sphere is pretty good going. In contrast, poor Pluto has probably had the most demoralising status change.
But back to Steinbach. His new exhibition,
Once Again The World Is Flat is free to visit at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens until the 21st April.
On display you will see his paintings from the 1970s. This was some of his earliest work, in which he explored the limitations of minimalism through calculated placements of coloured bars around monochrome squares. He later abandoned painting for interior design, creating historical floor designs.
Never sticking to one thing for too long, he then became interested in the spatial relations, and how certain objects, from our daily rituals of collecting, interact with one another. Steinbach uses DIY shelves to arrange nik naks, etc, in a kind of fung shui kind of exercise. He has invited visitors to bring in their own novelty salt & pepper shakers to become part of the display.
In addition to the exhibition, on the 5th April at 2pm, Professor Ben Highmore will give a talk about Haim Steinbach's practice in the context of the rituals of everyday life.