Grater Divide

Hatoum's sculpture has a profound physical presence not only because of its scale but also because of the way it subverts the familiar. Grater Divide is an oversize kitchen utensil whose sharp edges seem less suited to utility than to a more ominous purpose. The resulting tension may bring to mind universal cultural, social, and political divisions. The art of Hatoum-of Middle Eastern descent but living in the West-is autobiographical and also refers to earlier artistic concepts. Here, while the use of industrial materials, clean lines, and grand scale recall Minimalist aesthetics, the transformation of a recognizable object and introduction of patterning-suggestive of Islamic scrollwork-make Grater Divide very much a work of the present.