Haim Steinbach at Sonnabend

Each of the works included in this survey of Haim Steinbach's sculpture participates in a thoughtful esthetics of display. The identification of unmodified elements and the nature of assembly and presentation on the artist's familiar, angled shelves all result in a partnering of objects, without hierarchy.

In one gallery, three works were linked by materials, form and use. Untitled (Korean brushes, birdhouses), 2003, and Untitled (French basket, Devon birdhouses), 1989, are most obviously related by the birdhouses included. Displayed on a roughly 3-foot-long shelf of medium-density fiberboard, the culturally identified brushes of the more recent work resemble handmade dolls. Bound at the top, the bristles flare out like skirts. Juxtaposed are rustic birdhouses constructed of tin cylinders with conical tin caps. The earlier work consists of a 6-foot laminate shelf displaying a wicker carrying basket and three birdhouses made of hollow sections of tree limbs thatched with straw, in the manner of a shed, gable and cone. The two pieces shared similar materials in basket and brushes, and a formal resemblance.

On a 6-foot walnut shelf on an opposing wall, Untitled (planes, wagon, wood blocks), 2004, extended the theme of the natural hue of various objects. In this work, Steinbach offers a ranking of antique wood planes, these tools lined up like a child's pretend armada, next to an antique wooden wagon filled with unpainted, much-used blocks. It was again a partnering of disparate materials linked by scale and suggestion of use. As though sorting through an inventory of related works, and not needing to go too far, the curatorial mind at play here produced Untitled (dustpans, door mats #4A), 1990, a 7-foot faux-granite shelf supporting a stack of four roughly woven, jute doormats (think French basket, Korean brush). The mats are paired with two black plastic dustpans in search of a referent. Also puzzling was the funky, oddly meditative Untitled (insoles, corks), 1997, a row of innersoles bearing the print of their wearer's feet, next to a relatively small pile of corks, the organic material in keeping with the vernacular nature of the rest.

Emphasizing the equality of all things, Steinbach provided more or less 2-2A (1991), a nearly 3-foot-long laminate shelf supporting four rosy ceramic coffee mugs. Two have long handles shaped like penises; the other two cups are shaped like breasts, with holes provided at the nipples. As if to explain it all with an ambiguous nod, Steinbach presents a simple wall text 4 inches high and more than 6 feet long, which reads as it is titled, and to think it all started with a mouse (1995). Steinbach's "Rosebud" homage to Walt and Mickey? [Steinbach also showed works at GBE in New York last season.]--Edward Leffingwell

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