Bunny Smedley's survey of Rachel Whiteread's new Tate Modern Turbine Hall installation, Embankment, is worth the read (despite Smedley's profoundly incorrect assessment of Bruce Nauman).
Of many points that Smedley touches upon in the article, the one that registers most strongly is that Whiteread should never have been lumped in with the YBA crowd. Clearly the best trend to emerge from Saatchi's moment was the explosive growth in contemporary galleries, which in turn bolstered the "second wave" of young British artists: Douglas Gordon, Tacita Dean, and so on. The second wave benefited from a base of support that amounted to more than one collector's mania. Of that preliminary class of artists, Whiteread not only stands head and shoulders above the rest, she ranks as an artist whose work is consistently compelling even as she reiterates one modus operandi. For more on that score, see Dr. Smedley. (Link courtesy of Smedley's U.S. attaché, Modern Kicks).
Is it all likely that we could appropriate Whitread for the United States without straining too much international relations with our strongest ally? Whiteread's a much closer fit to postminimalists (like Nauman) than to her YBA contemporaries Hirst, the Chapmans, or the rest. It wouldn't take much more than a small wetworks team to extricate her, right?
UPDATE: Douglas Gordon is Scottish, not British per se, reminds one correspondent via e-mail. The sun never sets on the pickiness of you lot of readers.
Posted by Kriston at October 27, 2005 12:43 PMClearly the best trend to emerge from Saatchi's moment was the explosive growth in contemporary galleries
I think that's probably right, though I'm no expert on contemporary British art. In a country that historically had a similar relationship to art as to wine - loved to buy it, just not the local stuff - creating excitement around the hometown crowd was a pretty big change. Or at least the latest in a series of periodic bursts, perhaps.
Not surprising that I agree more with Bunny on Nauman, but you have to admit: it's a good line.
Link courtesy of Smedley's U.S. attaché
Hm. Do I get diplomatic immunity? 'Cause that would be cool.
> Douglas Gordon is Scottish, not British per se, reminds one correspondent via e-mail. The sun never sets on the pickiness of you lot of readers.
Huh. I was under the impression that Scots were Brits.
Apparently 29% of Scots would disagree, though.
Posted by: Dan at October 27, 2005 7:47 PMwhiteread shoulders above? you're on crack. and its real irony that her new installation Embankment looks like a disorganized le Witt whose repetition is as boring/annoying.
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