Tate Britain Gallery visit

Rachel Whiteread 

Tate Britain, London

 12 Sep 2017 - 21 Jan 2018

Rachel Whiteread, Chicken Shed 2017, Millbank Garden

The three words I would use to encapsulate Whiteread's stunning exhibition would be: 'Space', 'Material' and 'Contemplation'. The spaces observed and examined by the artist are from the everyday objects we encounter in our daily lives. These can range in scale from the intimate to the monumental. It's a sensory experience of looking, feeling, remembering and perceiving which gives immediacy and narrative to the artworks. Embodied in the work is the human story which is very appealing to me as an artist exploring likeness and presence. Her use of materials has also layers of representation. The concrete used in her casting process is a tangible, connective memory from her childhood and working with her father. Again, this is very pertinent to my work as I am aiming to create a connective narrative to my father and our shared experiences in the creative industries. "Whitehead has always been explicit about the influence on her work of her personal history" In viewing this collection of work from the past thirty years of her artistic career has allowed me to pursue a personal history approach with renewed authority and confidence. The human element is a powerful and emotive source which can be manipulated through thematic enquiry in the pursuit of artist expression.

I am inspired how Whiteread has used materials to build layers of narrative into her objects, from the urine coloured resins to the indentations in plaster suggesting human presence. Her use of serial repetition within the works (e.g. torso, 1991, one hundred spaces 1995, nine tables 1998 etc.) also attracts me. Each casting material I use (wax, plaster, bronze, resin)  creates a suggestion of different narratives in the work through its tactile qualities. The hard, glinting surface of the bronze cast crow reflects a permanence, a harsh, unmalleable quality whereas the plaster cast crow suggests a more fragile and permeable character. 

Rachel Whiteread,Torso 1991

 Crow 2017


Through looking at the works in this exhibition it has enable me to reflect on my own practice focusing on preserving likeness and presence. The connections we make with objects can have the power to transport us to remembered events, places and people. It is this power of transformative quality which I want to examine further and Whiteread's work has certainly provided me with plenty of reference material to consider. 

Rachel Whiteread, Holocaust Memorial 2000

 In 2012 I encountered Rachel Whiteread's Holocaust memorial when visiting the city of Vienna in Austria. I can still remember the connection and power of emotion when I stood before this piece. The human trace of lives exterminated are very palpable in this concrete sculpture of a fictional library. The associative potential of this piece is important and is a quality I want to capture in my object making on a much smaller scale. The potency of memory and a suggestion of loss are key themes I am currently exploring through a range of speculative works. It is intended for the works to be constructed within an installation setting which invites the viewer to contemplate and recall memories. 

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/rachel-whiteread/exhibition-guide