Rachel Whiteread
"Table", 1997
Correction fluid and pencil on graph paper
40 15/16 x 39 5/16 inches (104 x 100 cm)
Courtesy of the Artist and Luhring Augustine, New York
Photo credit: Farzad Owrang

Selected by Lynn Zelevansky 

Rachel Whiteread is one of the preeminent sculptors of her generation. Her practice is defined by an ongoing investigation of domestic architecture and the traces of humanity impressed upon such sites. She casts the spaces inside and around objects – be they bathtubs or mattresses, architectural elements such as doors, floors and windows, or even entire buildings – and uses materials such as resin, rubber, concrete, and plaster to preserve each surface detail. The resulting sculptures are remarkably faithful to their source molds, but also uncannily foreign in that they represent an inverse of the original object and require a constant reorientation of perception. Absence is made present, interior becomes exterior, and the invisible is rendered visible. Though regarded primarily as a sculptor, Whiteread has always maintained a vital drawing practice. The consistent use of graph paper grounds the drawings reflecting the balance and precision with which Whiteread approaches all of her work. A major retrospective exhibition of Whiteread's work debuted at Tate Britain in the fall of 2017, and traveled to the 21er Haus, in Vienna and the National Gallery in Washington D.C. in 2018, concluding at the St. Louis Art Museum in spring 2019. In 2019 Rachel Whiteread was awarded a damehood for services to art as a part of The Queen’s Birthday Honors List, which awards people across the United Kingdom for outstanding achievements.