Since the early 1980s, the American artist has used the shelf as an identity motif in his work, a recurring element available in different sizes and colors, making his work immediately recognizable. Designed by the artist himself, always on the same model, they accommodate various objects found, bought, collected, which he disposes of according to his own rules: by the association of colors, shapes, memories, in order of meaning for the artist. An original language is thus created. Bart Simpson or Master Yoda figurines, superhero masks, clocks, primitive art objects sit alongside toys from another era, cereal boxes, or ceramic mugs. A compendium of American culture and subculture of the last thirty years, which mixes the vintage and the contemporary, the precious and the vulgar, the unique piece and industrial production. Under the eye of the beholder, each object will be perceived as familiar or foreign, soulless or loaded with meaning and emotion. Thus, operating an improbable reconciliation between Donald Judd and Andy Warhol, Steinbach manages to make the link between minimal art and pop art and to transcend banality.