Gargosian, Rachel Whiteread: Detached

I was unconvinced by the Rachel Whiteread exhibition. It was very interesting to see her concrete filled negative space sculptures up close, however the exhibition wasn't something that excited me. The exhibition consisted of 3 concrete casts of sheds and resin cats of doors. Even though the pieces themselves didn't engage me, what became interesting were the way the works were displayed and they way the pieces reacted to the surrounding space. The doors were leaned in various positions which I found was a very simplistic but effective way of displaying the minimalist sculptures. The concrete sheds held a presence over the room and the relationship between the negative space sculptures and the surrounding negative space intrigued me. To me the irony of the way two types of negative space work off each other almost came across as humorous. Even though Whiteread's pieces haven't offered any avenues for exploration in my own practice it was still interesting to see at a simplistic level the relationships created by the work.