'Ghosts in the room'
November 3rd Wednesday
Willow Fisher
A piece of work that stood out to me was her sculptural exhibition "Untitled, (One Hundred Spaces) 1995." For this she made castings of the space under a chair, each individual one was identical in appearance but in a sense opposing with the space they had captured. In regards to the atmosphere within that space, who had sat in that chair, what did they experience in that chair that could be present in the space below. She looks to create work about the neglected spaces, opting to work with objects that are familiar with our everyday lives. In this case chairs are present in everyone's everyday lives.
.This is the piece. A critic in the documentary commented that Rachel gives a feeling to minimalism and that you can really feel the absence in the space, the absence of the audience with the rows of lone 'chairs', impressions of chairs.
.This idea of casting a space appeals to me and I find it so interesting, she claimed that in doing this she was making memories solid, this stuck with me when watching the rest of the documentary. Supposedly first hand physically seeing and experiencing the artists work you can really feel it, with the space that Rachel has captured.
This is an image of her casting the interior of the house she was living in whilst studying in Brighton, capturing the impressions of the door, windows, and fireplace. Capturing and sealing that fond experience of hers and recreating in her studio. Presenting the space in a new context she has designed. She aims to channel all of her energy into neglected spaces for her artwork. She commented that it was as if she had mummified the air within the room, like a ghost house. Work was called "Ghost"
She has worked with plaster for years so is experienced with it and is fond of its qualities and uses it in the majority of her more recent works sculpturally. She stated that the material is sensitive and manages to pick up everything, like the textures and traces of former experiences and lives.
"Ghost" inspired her to work bigger, cast a house, the house became the mould to be cast. An enormous cast. I couldn't even imagine working on such a scale and to create it in such an ordinary residential area leaving it to chance with the public, it was brave of her.
Sculpture took 3 months to make, afterwards the original structure was stripped away to reveal the artwork. I think this is such an ambitious piece of work. The sheer scale and impact it has I think is just amazing. Alternatively she could have created a completely conventional sculpture with materials, but instead she cast the house. In doing so capturing all of the memories within it, you wouldn't have that effect if she has started fresh without the second-hand remnants of the house. You could supposedly feels its history. I admire the detail.
The piece had a mixed review, some loved it whilst others despised it. Regarding it as an insult to the neighbourhood and not being real art. That year, 1993 Rachel was nominated for the Turner Prize, it was in November. She ended up winning it, but on that same night she won the worst artist of the year in the UK. watching this in the documentary was honestly heart braking and infuriating, I'm surprised at how strong she is in continuing to create work and produce contemporary art, despite the hate. She is informing us of the reality of the art world, its not all positive.
There was a vote on the fate of "House", it got demolished. Rachel watched it first-hand being destroyed, she described it as being heart braking.
I found this documentary very interesting and informing, what I most liked was Rachel talking about her earlier experiences with art. For example her parents, mother was a female artist creating feminist works working with other feminists, so Rachel was introduced to that attitude in art from a young age. Her time studying in Brighton, starting with painting to gradually move to sculpture work, she commented that whilst there she was creating work across all the disciplines. This has educated me, making me be aware that you dont have to just limit yourself to working in one medium.