Rachel Whiteread was born in London, in 1963. She then studied painting in Brighton and sculpture at the Slade School of Art in London from 1985 to 1987. She was also the first woman to win a Turner Prize (1993).
In her work She uses industrial materials, things you wouldn't associate with typical artist materials like plaster, concrete, resin, rubber and metal and takes casts of everyday objects and building spaces.
What i find so interesting about her work is how she uses the negative space to make a sculptor.
When went to my first ever life drawing class i was told to look at the negative space around, between or under the model to help with scale and form.
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The invisible spaces in the world that we don't think about, that is what Whitehead's work turns my focus to. Her work,technique or even just sculptor is something i have never looked into or focused on before, and i find her work very interesting because it is making me think about negative space while i am going about my day... jars,pots, light bulbs, shoes, cups, shelves, bags... everything.
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The objects she uses to cast are always second hand, which i find interesting that they had a life before she used them.
Her work looks so minimal but i think it has a lot more depth to it that it looks because of the fact they are second hand i think casting objects like beds,mattresses or books for example do feel very intimate because of their relationship with humans, with people.These objects are made for people to use, to touch and interact with ,which i find kind of romantic in a way.
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She said: ‘the first table I made in 1989 was to do with exchanging one’s personal space with that of the table, the physicality of how you sit when you have a table in front of you, how your legs behave, etc.’ (Quoted in Rachel Whiteread: Transient Spaces, exhibition catalogue, Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin 2001, p.71.)
The relationship between humans and space is a very interesting concept and i also like how the casts themselves interact in the gallery space after they are cast. And then how people interact with them in that space, compared to say 9 tables in the same space.
One of her pieces of work i really liked is called room 101.
This is a cast of a room at the BBC's Broadcasting house in London. The reason i was first drawn to it is because it was said to have inspired the torture chamber in George Orwell's 1984. We are using that book for inspiration for our illustration unit, so for me this grabbed my attention.
It made me think about the politics that go behind some art, for example "House 1993"
I read that this work was a way of responding to the threat posed to older London houses by ongoing campaigns of development and modernization.
Her work held my attention for a long time when i was looking at it, so i cant imagine what it would be like to see in the flesh! I am definitely going to try out casting negative space in my practical work. I have never really looked into sculptors or tried sculptor so i am pretty excited to give it a go. I am also looking forward to trying out different materials, and working with non traditional materials.
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