Rachel Whiteread | Drawings

This week I visited the Rachel Whiteread exhibition at Tate Britain, titled 'Drawings'. It is a display of her drawings from over the years. She has always drawn and treated drawing as a crucial part of her creative process, even if she is more well known for her sculpture work.

As with her sculpture the themes of people and singular lives are still explored through her drawings. You can almost hear her analysis, exploring the traces left by people living their daily lives, like whispers from the back of a bus. Her personality came across stronger than it usually does in her work, the drawings are more personal, and intimate, sometimes you felt like you were prying rather than viewing. But you are learning something more about Whiteread the 'person' or 'artist' walking around these pieces, and that captivates you.
She is portrayed, calm, consistent and precise. The kind of artist that flourishes organising the unordered fast moving world we live in. Subtle texture like the gloopy resine in her line drawings, played an important part in conveying the emotion she has with her subject material. This sincere, considerate approach Whiteread takes to her concepts, is what holds the strength in her practice. And ultimately, leads to her success in an previously un-exhibited branch of her art.

- Exhibition booklet

- One of the exhibition postcards I bought of Whiteread's sculpture 'House'

- Another exhibition postcard I bought of Whiteread's drawing