"A dollhouse for Rachel Whiteread"
sculpture & meeting Rachel Whiteread, 2009-2011
Circa 120x70cm
When I was physically confronted with one of her casted stairwells, I was astounded.
The work left a lasting impression on me and I wanted to know more about this artist and her work.
When I set out to read about her work, I saw resemblances between
how we both experience the relation between human beings and space.
I began to see Rachel as a mentor guiding me
in my own artistic quest.
In this manner she gave me insights in my own perception and experience.
I have the impression that Rachel has given me a lot through her work and thus
I wanted to give something in return.
I read that Rachel collects dollhouses and this triggered my work.
As we all know a dollhouse is a relational object in the best known way:
an object between a father and his daughter.
The maker and the one it is made for.
As such in the back of my mind I started to
make my own dollhouse with my childhood home as the blue-print.
My dollhouse has no walls: it is in fact an open structure that refers to a house and its rooms.
The only room that is defined is the staircase.
This is a hint to the starting point of the project
(the experience with a Whiteread stairwell)
The sculpture is the first part of this work.
The second part consists of actually presenting
the dollhouse sculpture to Rachel Whiteread herself.
a Special thanks to Laurence Dujardyn, Sven Overheul,Mi Casa & Rachel Whiteread