Absence

Today I stopped by Rachel Whiteread's current show at Tate Britain, a collection of drawings and sketches and preparatory work dating back to the start of her career as an artist. Presented as the studies and supporting material behind the sculptures for which she is known for (included are plans for many of her most well known works, such as 1993's 'House' and her Fourth Plinth commission) they are allowed to stand alone here as pieces in their own right, her pared down studies in such everyday materials as pen, pencil and correction fluid showing many of the minimalist tendencies of the much more tangible, solid structures that are her sculptures. What is so haunting about her sculptures - particularly her Holocaust Memorial, a maquette for which is displayed in the exhibition - is the sense of quietness and absence produced by something so gigantic and present. In her drawings we are instead asked to reflect upon the textures and marks made by materials on paper, the objects and spaces rendered in two dimensions with subtlety and a certain weightlessness that hints at the empty space within that is repeatedly the focus 0f her practice. Through collage, over-drawn photographs and drawings on paper Whiteread displays an affinity for the flat image that more than compliments her sculptural work.

Message in a bottle

This gargantuan painting by Peter Doig has just been unveiled at Tate Britain, palm trees must be in vogue! His painting is entitled Ascension and was originally shown at Westminster Cathedral last year, as a backdrop to a performance by pianist Stephen Hough. Today I constructed my own 8ft palm tree out of cardboard tubes and newsprint paper and ventured out into the streets of central London with it, will post the photos of the results soon...

I happened to be at Tate Britain this evening (although too late to see the painting, as the galleries were closed) for a debate on multiculturalism in art, centred around the latest piece of work to be unveiled on the fourth plinth, Yinka Shonibare's "Nelson's Ship in a Bottle". The debate ended up focusing on the way we articulate the notions of ethnic minorites and race relations, and particularly whether positive discrimination is a good thing, raised controversially by the author of this article and sparking heated discussion. I'm yet to see the rather impressive looking sculpture, but the critics seem unanimous in praise for its ambiguous subversion of and/or celebration of empire.