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Ketchup Sandwich
© Paul McCarthy/Bildupphovsrätt 2024
Ketchup Sandwich
Ketchup Sandwich
Photo: Åsa Lundén/Moderna Museet

Ketchup Sandwich

by Paul McCarthy
Artist (USA, född 1945)
Alternate Title
  • Ketchupsmörgås
Date1970/2010
MediumGlass sheets, Heinz ketchup glass bottles, ketchup
DimensionsVarierande mått
ClassificationInstallations
Credit LinePurchase 2006 funded by The Anna-Stina Malmborg and Gunnar Höglund Foundation, The Gerard Bonnier Foundation and The Friends of Moderna Museet
Countries
United States
Object NumberMOM/2006/156
CollectionsThe Gerard Bonnier Collection, Moderna Museets Vänner, Materialitet, The Anna-Stina Malmborg and Gunnar Höglund Foundation
The artwork is not on display
About the artworkThe contrast is striking between the glass sheets, with their clear, hard, sharp edges, and the amorphous, dark-red ketchup between them. Ketchup Sandwich has elements of both pop art and minimalism. The glass shape resembles the hard, anonymous cubes created by minimalists such as Donald Judd, but McCarthy’s “bleeding” cube does not have the cleanness of minimalism. The bottles are standing next to the sticky glass cube, the remains of a gluttonous overindulgence in this American fast-food sauce, referencing both action painting and horror and splatter movies. Ketchup represents both paint and blood. What can never be captured in photos of this sculpture is the sweet, slightly revolting smell it spreads in the room.