I saw a piece by Rachel Whiteread at an exhibition put on by MA Curation Students at Norwich University College of the Arts. The exhibition questions what is art and how is it valued.
Rachel Whiteread is a leading British contemporary sculptor. She won the Turner Prize in 1993 for her work titled 'House'; a concrete cast of a Victorian house. In a review The Independant said, "A strange and fantastical object which also amounts to one of the most extraordinary and imaginative sculptures created by an English artist this century". However 'House' generated mixed responses as she also won the K Foundation art award in 1994 for worst British artist. She is one of the Young British artists, a group that also includes Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.
The piece exhibited in the For What It's Worth exhibition by Whiteread is Untitled 1993 and is exhibited under the subsection: The Materiality of small things. The piece is a doorknob cast in bronze. I think that this piece the artist tries to get us to question the meaning behind the artwork as an ordinary object has been elevated to a higher status by being put in a different context; displayed in a glass box on top of a white pedestal.
The artwork makes me wonder if this object has a significant meaning to the artist and then I wonder about the everyday objects that have special meaning to me: ones affiliated with memories, good and bad.
This piece of work reminds me of Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain'. He elevates an everyday object, a urinal, to a piece of artwork by a signature and an exhibition. Increasing the objects value significantly in monetary terms.
Rachel Whiteread is a leading British contemporary sculptor. She won the Turner Prize in 1993 for her work titled 'House'; a concrete cast of a Victorian house. In a review The Independant said, "A strange and fantastical object which also amounts to one of the most extraordinary and imaginative sculptures created by an English artist this century". However 'House' generated mixed responses as she also won the K Foundation art award in 1994 for worst British artist. She is one of the Young British artists, a group that also includes Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.
House, 1993, Rachel Whiteread, concrete cast of Victorian House.
The piece exhibited in the For What It's Worth exhibition by Whiteread is Untitled 1993 and is exhibited under the subsection: The Materiality of small things. The piece is a doorknob cast in bronze. I think that this piece the artist tries to get us to question the meaning behind the artwork as an ordinary object has been elevated to a higher status by being put in a different context; displayed in a glass box on top of a white pedestal.
The artwork makes me wonder if this object has a significant meaning to the artist and then I wonder about the everyday objects that have special meaning to me: ones affiliated with memories, good and bad.
This piece of work reminds me of Marcel Duchamp's 'Fountain'. He elevates an everyday object, a urinal, to a piece of artwork by a signature and an exhibition. Increasing the objects value significantly in monetary terms.
