Eva Grubinger’s Fender is a readymade sculpture featuring a huge vulcanised rubber cylinder designed to protect a vessel against impact, known as a fender, belonging to a real ship.
Fender was first shown in Grubinger’s solo exhibition ‘Black Diamond Bay’, which was part of Fig-Futures, at the ICA in 2015. The show explored issues of colonial adventuring, maritime metaphors and connections between the past and present. Fender’s uncanny presence in a gallery resonates with reference to these themes.
Grubinger was born in Salzburg and studied at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin.
Fender now becomes a particularly apposite addition to the collection of The Box in Plymouth, a city with the largest naval dockyard in Western Europe and strong associations with maritime and seafaring history.
More information
Title of artwork, date
Fender, 2015
Date supported
2019
Medium and material
Vulcanized rubber (coated by the artist in graphite) and steel
Dimensions
200 x 700
Total cost
43378.7
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