Rachel Whiteread, where have you been all my life?

...hiding behind huge resin houses apparently.

Yesterday (1/10/10) I took a day trip to London to see the finest of Peckham and the Tate Britain Gallery, of course.

I have seen a number of Rachel Whiteread's house sculptures in the past but yesterday I was blown away.

The exhibition of Rachel Whiteread's drawings ironically offered a whole new dimension to her work. She describes her drawings as a 'diary of my work' yet they are exquiste art pieces in their own right. As a 2D artist myself, I found the translation of her sculptures into 2D paper pieces incredibly insightful.

I loved her use of titles, i.e 'Tables and Chairs' and 'House, room, stairs'. Personal, everyday life can mean different things to each viewer and I liked that she leaves her themes to be explored by the audience without too much direction.

The idea that her drawings were functional to producing her sculptures was interesting. This was quite clearly hinted at by the use of graph paper. A piece entitled 'Heatcore test for monument' 2001, consisted of mechanical drawings presented in a circle.

Whiteread's drawings have inspired me to think about the following:

- filling in shapes (absent shapes?) with colour - watercolour/enamel paint
- grey tester paint
- red pen, blue pen, blueprint (idea of practicals/measurements)
- use of varnish, tipex on photocopy
- larger sketchbook for photocopies (A2)?
- white frames