WORK OF THE WEEK: Nina Saunders, Have you seen my keys?, 2006

Have you seen my keys?

David Mellor
Cup and Saucer

Edmund De Waal
The Hare with Amber Eyes
The White Road

Nina Saunders
Have you seen my keys?, 2006
Bronze
13 x 15 x 3 cm
5 ⅛ x 5 ⅞ x 1 ¼ in.
Edition 2 of 8 + 1 AP

Born in Odense, Denmark in 1958, Nina Saunders studied at Central St Martin’s, London. Her work encompasses a range of mediums, from found objects and discarded upholstery to works in bronze.

Each of Saunders' sculptures is imbued with an ironic humour, that never fails to inspire a contemplation of our domestic objects. Have you seen my keys? was inspired by her husband's constant misplacement of his own. The piece is cast in bronze and beautifully creates a sculptural still life of our everyday, mundane possessions. The attention to detail is exquisite, the mimicked stitching on the keychain, the cut of the keys, and the buttons on the brick phone demonstrate a fondness of the objects that are most personal to her. Yet in sculpting widely held possessions, Saunders lets us in on the joke, and encourages us to pay close attention, and to cherish, our everyday objects.