Richard Wentworth was born in 1947 and currently lives and works in London, England. He studied at the Royal College of Art in London from 1966 to 1970 and then at the San Francisco School of Art in 2001.

Wentworth has explored the world of sculpture as well as photography, focusing on objects that we experience in our everyday lives. He wanted to explore ways of making un-interesting and average objects in to creative artworks that question how we view ordinary things. Wentworth’s approach made me think more about the uses that objects have and the part they plan in our day-to-day lives. We often ignore and overlook items and scenes that are thought to be boring and not very exciting, but Wentworth’s work forces people to look at and think about them in more detail and what they mean.

Unmatched Pair (Jerusalem), 1986

South East Spain, 2007

Beijing, 2007, 2013

The images above are part of a series by Wentworth which appealed to me because they are all simple objects being shot yet they look effective due to the colours and compositions used. The image with the cones and the image with the buckets are similar due to the main colour being dull greys and dark shades, with a sudden burst of colour from the red cones and the yellow cloth. This allows the two images to compliment each other because the contrast between vibrant and bland colours is similar. In addition to this, the image with the buckets and the image with the blinds are similar because they have both been taken from a straight on angle with the main object central in the picture. This technique allows the viewer to identify the dominant object first and study the rest of the image afterwards which forces people to focus on ordinary objects like buckets and blinds more carefully.

The cone image contrasts to the other images because it has been taken from a higher point and looks down on to the scene, how a person would usually view it in real life. This makes the scene less extraordinary, however the composition of the cones with the random hairbrush and paper in the middle allow the piece to be abstract and unique because you would not usually see those things together in that way. Also, the image of the blinds contrasts to the other two photographs because it has been cropped so as the brightly coloured blinds go right up to the edges, whereas the cones are surrounded by concrete pavement, and the buckets are placed on the floor.

When placing my attention on just the second image – South East Spain, 2007 – I begin to think about why the leaflet has been wedged into the blinds in such an aggressive and awkward manor. Maybe someone wanted to hide the leaflet and keep it somewhere out of the way or maybe they needed to put it somewhere quickly and there was no other space to store it. Naturally, humans like to hear or read stories and from this image, there is not enough evidence or information to piece together a story because we don’t know what the leaflet says or why it is intertwined with some window blinds. Therefore to improve the image, I would personally take it from further back so as more information and background can be see. This would provide the image with context and the viewers would gain an insight in to the situation.

However, Wentworth has obviously made the image zoomed in so as the viewer can only see the blinds and not what else is around them. This may be because the other objects that surrounded the blinds made them look more ordinary, and a close up view added an abstract effect to the piece.

The intended outcome of this image is to allow people to look at and think about objects that we come in to contact with everyday, differently and appreciate the beauty of the colourful blinds and leaflet. The outcome is to make people laugh because the fact that someone has placed a document in the gaps of a blind is unusual and somewhat amusing and Wentworth has captured that brilliantly.

Wentworth’s work has been displayed in such galleries as Whitechapel Gallery, 52nd Venice Biennale, Tate Liverpool, Artangel, Bonner Kunstverein, Stedelijk Museum and the Serpentine Gallery.

References:

Lissongallery.com,. ‘Richard Wentworth | Artists | Lisson Gallery’. N.p., 2015. Web. 2 Apr. 2015.

Tate,. ‘Richard Wentworth, ‘Yellow Eight’ 1985′. N.p., 2015. Web. 7 Apr. 2015.

Wentworth, Richard, and Nick Groom. Richard Wentworth’s Thinking Aloud. London: Hayward Gallery Pub., 1998. Print.

Wentworth, Richard. Richard Wentworth. Liverpool: Tate, 2005. Print.

Wentworth, Richard. Richard Wentworth. London: Lisson Gallery, 1984. Print.