Biography of Haim Steinbach
Haim Steinbach (born 1944 in Rehovot, Israel) is best known for his assemblages of found objects, placed carefully on highly colored and crafted shelves of his own design. Beginning in the 1970s, Steinbach focused on the vernacular, particularly in American subcultures, and has gained a following for his witty juxtapositions of high and low. The isolation of objects and their placement, however, are much more than design critiques on his part. Steinbach's interest goes far beyond an analysis of the industrially produced readymade out of context. His works have included environmental installations, the styling of fashion brands, the use of found language in wall works, the re-hanging of collections, as well as monumental public artworks.
In these varied modes, Haim Steinbach demonstrates his unique, and highly influential approach to fundamental questions about the use of objects in society. His compositions elicit thoughts on the value of things, on the nature of art as fetish, on the nature of collecting, on the role of the object in the art market, and more. Steinbach's thinking has been called anthropological or sociological in nature, but it is the location of thought in the perfect object or installation that mark his long and brilliant career.
