steel and rubber
1998
Mona Hatoum's *Steel and Rubber* presents a stark and unsettling juxtaposition of industrial materials, inviting the viewer to contemplate the tension between rigidity and flexibility, control and resistance. The work is characteristic of Hatoum's broader practice, in which everyday or utilitarian objects are transformed into charged, often visceral meditations on the body, power, and vulnerability. Through the cold hardness of steel set against the pliable, skin-like quality of rubber, the piece evokes a quiet sense of restraint and latent threat.
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale
March 10, 2017
Artists in conversation
Richard Serra
American · b. 1938
Serra's monumental sculptures using raw industrial steel share the same tension between physical weight and psychological force found in this piece, transforming utilitarian materials into meditations on power and bodily vulnerability within minimalist aesthetic frameworks.
Louise Bourgeois
French-American · b. 1911
Bourgeois similarly employed industrial and organic materials to create visceral, body-referencing sculptures that oscillate between rigidity and softness, using a conceptual and emotionally charged approach to explore themes of control, vulnerability, and psychological tension.
Doris Salcedo
Colombian · b. 1958
Salcedo works with everyday and industrial materials including steel to create politically resonant installations that evoke bodily presence and absence, sharing Hatoum's commitment to monochromatic conceptual work that transforms utilitarian objects into charged reflections on power and human fragility.
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