Exhibition
Keeping it Real - Whitechapel Gallery
An Exhibition in Four Acts: Act 1: The Corporeal: The D. Daskalopoulos Collection
Marcel Duchamp’s iconic Fountain, 1917/64, a common urinal displayed on a plinth, is the starting point for exploring the way artists have used materials to look at the relationship between art and reality. This first in a series of four displays drawn from the D. Daskalopoulos Collection, Greece, brings together works by both well-known and rarely seen artists who address questions of identity, desire and human vulnerability. Louise Bourgeois’hanging sculpture Fillette (Sweeter Version), 1968-99, Sherrie Levine’s bronze reworking of Duchamp’s ready-made and Robert Gober’s double-sexed torso, Untitled, 1991, share a sense of the surreal.
The artist is immediately present in the body prints of David Hammons, Jim Hodge’s transfer prints made with his own saliva and Despina Isaia’s delicate weave of her hair. Marina Abramović washes a skeleton in her meditation on the trauma of genocide and the amnesia of society. Other artists on show include John Bock, Sarah Lucas and Sue Williams.
Keeping it Real is part of the Gallery’s ongoing programme opening up important public and private art collections to wider audiences.
