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Rachel Whiteread
Untitled 'Torso', 1995 - Rachel Whiteread (Sculpture)

About the Item

Rachel Whiteread Untitled 'Torso', 1995 Plaster 9 1/4 x 7 1/8 x 3 1/2 inches Rachel Whiteread (b. 1963) came to prominence in the early 1990s as a cohort of artists, known as the YBAs, began to radically reshape the landscape of contemporary art in Britain. Whiteread was the first female recipient of the acclaimed annual Turner Prize, which she won in 1993 for her work House. The concrete sculpture presented the eerie cast of the interior of a Victorian terraced house in East London. This fascination with casting negative space and creating physical manifestations of that which we frequently overlook has remained central to the artist’s practice. Though best known for her works on a monumental scale, at the outset of her career, Whiteread focused on small, familiar domestic objects, such as hot water bottles, loo rolls and other paraphernalia. This work, executed in 1995, is taken from the interior of a hot water bottle cast in plaster. Whiteread has returned to the subject frequently producing her ‘torsos’ in resin, rubber, plaster, wax and other materials. The plaster is poured into the hot water bottle which is sealed and the plaster left to set, it is then cut open and peeled away to reveal the final work. While the sculpture may appear as the familiar outline of a hot water bottle, it is in fact an inversion of the object, representing the interiority of the object that we do not usually see. By giving presence to the negative space of the hot water bottle, Whiteread highlights the absence of the object itself. In her torsos, the neck and shoulders of the hot water bottle replicate that of a human figure; rendered with a smooth surface and curvaceous line Untitled (torso) speaks to sculptures of classical antiquity. In this way, the sculpture is not just a physical trace but also a historical one. Describing these works as torsos, the artist points to their connection with the human body, lending the work an intimacy. Throughout her oeuvre, Whiteread has hinted at the presence of the figure, without ever depicting them. In presenting the spaces and objects with which humans interact, Whiteread’s practice interrogates the object/figure relationship.
  • Creator:
    Rachel Whiteread (1963, British)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 9.25 in (23.5 cm)Width: 7.25 in (18.42 cm)Depth: 3.25 in (8.26 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    London, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU8814604672

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