Rachel Whiteread

Rachael Whiteread was born April 20th 1963 in Britain. She is famous for her sculpture that takes the space under things, or around things, and makes it into elegant pieces. She is one of the Young British Artists and has exhibited in the Royal Academy since 1997. Her best known piece is called Ghost and it is the inside of a Victorian house that has been cast in plaster and then had the house removed. Also, another famous piece is named Untitled and it catalogs the space underneath 100 things that we use everyday.
Rachel was born in London and lived outside of the city until she was seven, when her family returned to inside the city. She is the youngest of three girls in the family, the oldest two being identical sisters. Her mother was also an artist until she dies in 2007. This event had a tremendous effect on Whiteread. He father was a Geography teacher and a polytechnic administrator until he died while she was in art school in 1989. She attended The Faculty of Arts and Architecture at Brighton Polytechnic and at Cyprus College of Art. She later studied sculpture at Slade School of Art in London. She began to exhibit her art after working for a bit at Highgate Cemetery in 1987. Her first solo exhibit was just a year later in 1988. She lives in London with husband Marcus Taylor and her two sons.

Her work mainly deals with ordinary domestic object in which she then casts the space underneath or around them. A lot of her work is filling up negative spaces that would usually remain empty. She comments her piece in saying that they carry "the residue of years and years of use". She mainly focuses on the lines of an object in her pieces. She, unlike many artist, does not like making controversial pieces.
Possibly her most famous work would be House. It is a concrete cast of the interior of a Victorian terrace house. It was very controversial because it was the only "house" that was not touched when part of London was torn down. many did not know what to think do to the fact that the figure was so alarmingly huge as well as unnerving.
Another piece, 100 Spaces, is a series of resin casts of the space underneath chairs. Many think that the forms are beautiful in their existence, and others do not know what to think of them. So, as hard as this artist tries not to be controversial, she is in a unique way.

A piece that she has been commissioned to make today include a piece called Embankment for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. After accepting the job she revealed the idea of casting the inside of boxes and then stacking them higher than anyone could imagine in different ways to make it visually appealing to the viewer. The forms are higher than anything in the Tate museum and cover the gigantic hall that she was given. She also makes scenes out of them and references
Raiders of the Lost Ark as well as Citizen Kane in this piece. It is thought that this piece is influenced by her extensive traveling to the Arctic, however, some question that. This piece has really deepens Whiteread's line of work as well as her own personal portfolio.
I think that her work is absolutely stunning. Not only does it give into the viewer’s imagination, but it also reminds you of the space that is needed for you to exist. I think that she is a very brave artist for putting such works out there that state such profound things. I really admire her for showing these pieces and think that she really open up the avenue for other artist in this field.