RESEARCH: Analysing the work of Rachel Whiteread
Looking at wider similarities in subject matter.
As part of trying to widen the project in terms of research to generate new reference points, contexts and provide greater meaning within my own work, I have decided to look at the work of Rachel Whiteread. Whiteread is an installation based artist who is well known for her casts of interiors such as houses. Looking at an artist who specialises in installation and sculptural based work gives me some wider insight into how similar subject matter can be interpreted in different ways through a difference in medium. Although my chosen mediums are drawing and painting, much can be taken from installation artists like Whiteread because of their emphasis on working in three dimensions. It gives you more consideration of how to present your work, subject matter and how to try and depict the three dimensional form in different ways. Whiteread’s latest works have taken her down a different path in her career that allowed her to approach her work from the outside rather than the inside, which is also a particularly interesting layer to the discussion. It is my intention to look into her latest piece, note her thoughts on her process and gain an understanding of the similarities between my work and Whiteread’s.
‘Poltergeist’ and “Doppelgänger” 2020 by Whiteread were particularly interesting to me because
of my chosen subject matter, and how similar it looks to two sheds or handmade structures in different phases of ruin. Also, it’s location is somewhat out of context to what it would typically be situated in, which is a similarity within my own work and the use of negative space. Looking at ‘Poltergeist’ by Whiteread will give me further insight into her approach, motives and reasonings for creating such a piece.
Whiteread recently said in an interview with the guardian that “As an artist you create a language, you create depth to a language, you change the language” (Whiteread, 2021) when discussing her current piece of work. I found this line to be particularly significant because it shows how an artist has the room to change, make progressions in their work and alter the context in which their work is perceived and viewed. It shows how the artist has an ownership on the language they are trying to portray to the viewer and how they can create the depth in meaning in anything they may produce. In Whiteread’s case, ‘Poltergeist’ signifies a change in direction for the artist in terms of her approach, meaning and even use of material. The comment made by Whiteread shows how artists have ownership over what they do, how they do it and have the ability to change their ‘language’ if it no longer inspires them in the ways it once did. It gives the artist the scope to experiment, review their practice and make progressions in their careers creatively. ‘Poltergeist’ and ‘Doppelgänger” 2020 are an example of Whiteread beginning to move away from casts in an effort to change her “language” (Whiteread, 2021) after 35 years of producing such works. Whiteread has therefore begun to look at exteriors rather than interiors.
The piece has been visually described as “She’s built two huts – yes, there’s a continuity – from reclaimed wood, bits of trellis and metal, old planks and twisted boughs. Painted white, so the light bounces off them, they are almost ghostly.” (Higgins, 2021)
I like this description of the installations because they explain how the sheds or huts are in a state of ruin, but they are juxtaposed by their colour, making them almost ghostly or even like a negative photograph. I find the colour choice particularly interesting because it almost takes away the ability to identify the different textures, tones and colours of the materials that each hut/shed is made from. It makes the structure its own, entire object, rather than a mixture of different elements. I like this approach because you see the structure in its full, entire state rather than as fragments of different elements.
The use of white is also an interesting aspect of this because the shed/hut almost blends into the room it is situated in. The use of white also links to my use of negative space in my drawings, which often leaves the viewer up to their interpretation in terms of the location the structure is situated in. This time however, the use of white gives the structure a ghostly look that almost flattens the structure. When reflecting on my work in light of these installations by Whiteread, it has made me consider how I use negative space, my colour choices and the potential of using white ink rather than black on the main part of the drawings I produce to give the impression that the negative space or the void is left by the structure rather than the background. It has made me consider use of space and how my drawings are included within that. I think it will help me consider composition, the presence of my drawings on a surface and the impact my drawings hold more because of looking at Whiteread’s choice in materials, colour and composition in her installations.
Whiteread describes the installations as “Poltergeist looks as if it’s been pulled up by something,” she says. “Doppelgänger looks like it’s been stamped on.” One of her very earliest sculptures was called Ghost” (Higgins, 2021). Much inspiration was taken from her interests in natural disasters, natural disasters and refugee camps, which is shown through here selection of materials, composition and choice of subject matter being that of an exterior of a shed or hut. It also is shown through the construction of the sheds; there is an intention that they were damaged and disfigured in different ways. This is why there is a feeling that one has been squashed or stamped on and the other appears to be pulled up or apart. The way they have been disfigured therefore becomes very important in how the work is translated to the viewer. Whiteread wanted different feelings behind each installation and this is done through how Having context behind the installations helps generate wider understanding of the selection and decision making behind each aspect. It gives it wider discussion points and general meaning. This is something I need to consider within my work by looking into further, wider contexts and meanings behind what I do and how I do it both through my workshops and physical pieces.
Later in the article, Whiteread talks about the use of drawing. She states that “She’s always done a lot of drawing, and she realised that she could use stuff she’d found to draw – but in three dimensions. She could make “big drawings of the skin and bones of buildings; of flayed buildings; of things after disasters” (Higgins, 2021). This view on drawing is really important because it shows it’s universal quality and its importance as a skill. The fact that she began to connect the dots in her practice through drawing, and found drawing to be useful in many ways of constructing her ideas makes it a vital fundamental technique of creativity. Again, this adds some significance to both my workshops and my practice because it shows how important it is to understand how to draw and its qualities in terms of it being a useful skill to illustrate your ideas. Having the ability to draw can produce larger ideas, concepts and installations in Whiteread’s case. She translated the ability to draw into constructing these installations, a process that appears to be methodical.
After looking briefly at Rachel Whiteread’s most recent installations, I have found great benefits from analysing a similar subject matter and different use of medium. I think the connections between the use of drawing and how that impacts the final outcome of a larger scale piece of work show how important it is to have an understanding of formal artistic mediums, and therefore justify my project in a different way. Also, looking at Whiteread’s work has made me consider more about the meaning my work holds, my references and inspiration. I need to be more aware of the wider contexts that my work holds, and the meanings behind the subject matter. To do this I intend on making more notes within my sketchbook about the importance of green spaces, gardening and the use of handmade structures to facilitate this. This will only benefit and add more meaning to my workshops. Overall this has been very insightful research.
SOURCES:
Higgins, C., 2021. Rachel Whiteread: ‘I wanted to make the opposite of what I had always been making’. [online] Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/apr/11/rachel-whiteread-i-have-a-clarity-i-never-had-before> [Accessed 5 May 2021].
Gagosian. 2021. Rachel Whiteread: Internal Objects, Grosvenor Hill, London, April 12–June 6, 2021 | Gagosian. [online] Available at: <https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2021/rachel-whiteread-internal-objects/> [Accessed 5 May 2021].
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