Richard Wentworth - contemporary artist

For my second contemporary art blog I am choosing Richard Wentworth. He was born in 1947 in Samoa and made his life in London. Between the years of 1971-87 he taught at Goldsmiths College and has been thought to have influenced the Young British Artists. He does do photography however it was his sculpture that caught my eye.

He uses “ready made” and found objects and he is interested in putting together objects that don’t belong together, that are in an unusual setting and are broken. It is not obviously clear what the deeper underlying messages Wentworth is trying to put across in his work. Having watched a few of his interviews I can honestly say I didn’t have much of a clue what he was going on about (and I wasn’t the only one from what I could find). However as a basic message he is interested in using objects in ways they weren’t, on the surface, designed for and challenging our perceptions of what an object is for. He is telling us to not take objects for granted as they have more than one use and the broken can be mended or used as something else. He may also be challenging us to pay more attention to the more mundane objects e.g. plates and pails. I have recently read an article which referred to creative people being able to find 100 uses of a spoon, however non creative people will not. That makes me think of Richard Wentworth and, I like to think, of me too although 100 uses of a spoon might stretch me!

A couple of comments he did make in the interviews I watched which resonated with me are:- “for most artists their head is their studio as that is where the stuff incubates.” I can really identify with that comment as whether I am asleep or awake, art seems to be largely what I spend my time thinking about. He also said “artists are foragers” which made me think of me constantly looking out for interesting things on the beach, items from charity shops and car boot sales which might have artistic possibilities and my bag of interesting shaped kitchen junk I keep. He also said “art allows you to think of things you have never done either because you are too conventional, restrained or cautious”. I think this comment has relevance to me as well as I am trying to push myself outside my comfort zone during this course, whereas I would normally rest in the sensible zone!

The first artwork I have selected is “False Ceiling” where he has suspended books from the ceiling. He says he doesn’t think too hard about titles! He says he is both wanting us to wander and wonder while looking at this sculpture and I am sure you would. I detected book titles as diverse as The Hardy Boys to the Art of Feng Sui. For me one definition of a successful piece of artwork is one that holds your interest for a period of time, and with this exhibit he has.

 

The second artwork is “Spread” which is a large group of varied plates placed on the floor in a circle. This reminds me of my patchworking where many of the scrap fabrics I use have history, as well as colour and texture and that is what makes it an artform that is not only pleasing to the eye, but also it can be pleasing to your soul.

 

The third artwork is his Graduate Sculpture research project for Spring 2011 and it is a series of half plates displayed on the wall in a staggered fashion. It made me think, why not! Many people display plates anyway but this is a more eye catching way of displaying them. He hasn't used colourful plates though which is contrary to the other work I have selected.

 

The final artwork I have selected is “History is now” which is a sideways wall map of Britain made up from what looks like ready mades and broken objects which are all very colourful.

In considering my contemporary art project Richard Wentworth’s work has helped pull together some of my thoughts through his use of ready mades and broken objects, using objects for different purposes and his use of colour. But he has also made me think of my goals which are to expand my creative ideas, to not be held back by playing safe and to create a piece that people do more than just glance at.