United Enemies (A Play in Ten Scenes)
1994
Thomas Schütte's *United Enemies (A Play in Ten Scenes)* presents a series of small, unsettling figurative arrangements in which bound and bundled human-like forms are trapped together in glass vessels or containers. The work carries a darkly theatrical quality, suggesting conflict, coercion, and uneasy alliance through its puppet-like characters locked in perpetual, uncomfortable proximity. Schütte uses dark humor and a deceptively modest scale to explore themes of power, politics, and the troubled relationships between individuals and institutions.
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale
March 9, 2018
Artists in conversation
Cindy Sherman
American · b. 1954
Sherman's theatrical staging of figures in psychologically charged scenarios shares Schütte's use of dark humor and unsettling narrative tension to explore power and identity through constructed, puppet-like personae.
Jake Chapman
British · b. 1966
Chapman, working collaboratively with his brother, creates small scale figurative arrangements with grotesque theatrical qualities and biting political satire that closely mirrors Schütte's bundled figures trapped in scenes of coercion and dark comedy.
Bruce Nauman
American · b. 1941
Nauman's suspended and bound figurative sculptures explore themes of bodily constraint, political power, and psychological unease through a similarly modest yet confrontational approach to the human form in forced proximity.
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