Working with Murano artisans in Venice,
Mona Hatoum used traditional blown-glass methods to create these haunting
blood-red sculptures, seemingly caught in the moment of spattering across the
floor. While inevitably raising the specter of slaughter, whether in a field of
battle or through random terrorism, A
Bigger Splash can also be read as an appeal to end violence, and as an act
of sacrifice and redemption. 

There are several thematic and formal
sources for this work, ranging from Renaissance painting to stop-action
photography. The title is taken from David Hockney’s A Bigger Splash, 1967, which depicts a Los Angeles swimming pool at
the moment when a swimmer has just dived in. Hockney has commented: “When you
photograph a splash, you’re freezing a moment and it becomes something else. I
realize that a splash could never be seen this way in real life, it happens too
quickly.” Whether Hatoum’s appropriation of Hockney’s title is intended to be
ironic is left to the viewer; however, “freezing a moment and it becomes
something else” is central to Hatoum’s nuanced treatment of image and meaning
throughout her work.