
Copyright Rachel Whiteread; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, Galleria Lorcan O'Neill, Rome, and Gagosian Gallery
In Storage
Rachel Whiteread (b.1963)
Untitled (Freestanding Bed)
Whiteread's work takes the form of casts made from everyday objects like mattresses, hot water bottles or entire rooms. These casts are usually of the 'negative space' inside a room, under a bed or around a fireplace. In this way she makes the invisible visible. In 1993 Whiteread became the first woman to win the Turner Prize in recognition of her project Untitled (House) for which she took a cast of the inside of a three-storey house.
Whiteread is interested in human interactions with the original objects and the memories and associations that they carry. The objects themselves no longer exist making the casts poignant memorials to everyday items and the people who used them. Untitled (Freestanding Bed) is one Whiteread's early works. Although made of hard dental plaster it has the look of a much-used and worn mattress, soft and slightly saggy from a history of use.
← Back to the CollectionMedium | dental plaster & polystyrene |
Date | 1991 |
Dimensions | 1041mm x 1828mm x 265mm |
Acquisition Number | SOTAG : 1992/1 |
Credit Line | Purchased in 1992 through the Chipperfield Bequest Fund and National Art Collections Fund |