In 1993, British artist Rachel Whiteread, one of Saatchi's YBA set, arrived at a property in East London. The house was all that was left of a Victorian terrace, and set for demolition. She sprayed the interior walls with concrete to create a cast and made life-size, inverse replica of the home. Walking around it, you could make out fireplaces, bannisters and windows. House was a monument to the lives lived within it - a kind of ghost; a tribute to domesticity; memory made solid. The artwork won Whiteread the Turner Prize - she became the first woman to have done so. Four months later, Towers Hamlets council demolished the sculpture.
House remains Whiteread's best-known piece, but she
has produced a hugely diverse body of work, over a career that spans three decades. She made the holocaust memorial in the Judenplatz in Vienna, the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square and filled the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall with 14,000 plastic boxes.Whiteread sculptures are rough, industrial objects, made from materials such as resin, wire, concrete, chairs, cans. These everyday, household objects become poetic fossils: what usually goes unnoticed becomes intimate and eternal.
This autumn, the Tate Britain will stage a major exhibition of Whiteread's work, where a selection her drawings, collages and photographs will be on display alongside her better known works. Come and celebrate one of the most iconic contemporary artists of our time.
| What | Rachel Whiteread exhibition, Tate Britain |
| Where |
Tate Britain Millbank, London, SW1P 4RG | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Pimlico (underground) |
| When |
12 Sep 17 – 04 Feb 18, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM |
| Price | £tba |
| Website | Click here for more information |
