Hammer contemporary collection

Jennifer Bolande, Mona Hatoum, and Alison Saar are artists of the same generation who make conceptual works of art that are informed by the size and form of the human body. In three sculptures from the Hammer Contemporary Collection—Bolande’s Pinnacle (1989), Hatoum’s Bourj (2010), and Saar’s Stubborn and Kinky (2023)—each artist has used found materials to craft a theatrically protean object that flickers in and out of various iconographic connotations. The works’ titles, their materials, and the actions that transform those materials operate on multiple symbolic registers.

Each of the objects offers oblique layers of meaning and implied narratives that evade conclusive explanation. They invoke theatrical and linguistic symbolism, but their signifiers remain porous. These artists emphasize the experience of perception, privilege the spectator’s interpretation, and insist that meaning remain open-ended.

Hammer contemporary collection: Jennifer Bolande, Mona Hatoum, Alison Saar is organized by Ashton Cooper, associate curator, Des Moines Art Center, and former Hammer curatorial assistant.