The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Teal blue shelf with four toy-like figurines on top. At the center stands the largest figure, white with an oversized head and ears. To our left is a blue soap dispenser with a circular body and head painted with eyes, to our right a black, humanoid bull on hind legs. On a small, dark blue shelf attached to the first is a black dog chew like three spheres in descending size stacked and fused together.

Wild Things

2011

Haim Steinbach

(American, 1944-)
America
Plastic laminated wood shelf, plastic Massimo Giancon "Mr. Cold" soap dispenser, vinyl "Mega Munny," vinyl bull "Where the Wild Things Are" figure, rubber dog chew
Overall: 102.9 x 184.8 x 48.3 cm (40 1/2 x 72 3/4 x 19 in.)
Purchased with funds donated by Scott Mueller 2015.30
Location: 001A ArtLens Exhibition

Did You Know?

Many of this artist's works consist of arrangements of mass-produced objects, displayed on shelves of his own design.

Description

How does a seemingly random group of objects—products of society’s wants and needs—relate to each other? Haim Steinbach has been asking this question for several decades through his sculptures comprised of consumer objects he purchased or found and gathered onto shelving. The title of the work has been borrowed from the children’s tale Where the Wild Things Are to which the figure of the bull belongs. Each object has been given human characteristics, calling attention to the personal feelings and attention we invest in inanimate, replaceable things.
  • Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY
  • Artlens Exhibition 2019. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer).
    New York: Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, creature
  • {{cite web|title=Wild Things|url=false|author=Haim Steinbach|year=2011|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2015.30