Richard Wentworth Photography & Sculpture

Richard Wentworth has played a leading role in New British Sculpture since the end of the 1970s. His work, encircling the notion of objects and their use as part of our day-to-day experiences, has altered the traditional definition of sculpture as well as photography. By transforming and manipulating industrial and/or found objects into works of art, Wentworth subverts their original function and extends our understanding of them by breaking the conventional system of classification. The sculptural arrangements play with the notion of ready-made and juxtaposition of objects that bear no relation to each other. Whereas in photography, as in the ongoing series Making Do and Getting By, Wentworth documents the everyday, paying attention to objects, occasional and involuntary geometries as well as uncanny situations that often go unnoticed.

Richard Wentworth lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at SWG3, Glasgow, UK, with Victoria Miguel (2018); Galerie Azzedine Alaïa, Paris, France (2017); Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN, USA (2015); Bold Tendencies, Peckham, London, UK (2015); ‘Black Maria’ (in collaboration with Gruppe), Kings Cross, London, UK (2013); Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2010); 52nd Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2009); Tate Liverpool, UK (2005); Artangel, London, UK (2002); Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany (1998); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1994); and Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (1993). Wentworth has participated in recent group exhibitions at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, UK (2018); Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, UK (2018); Luma Foundation, Gstaad, Switzerland (2016); the Foundling Museum, London, UK (2016), MAC, Belfast, Ireland (2016); Hayward Gallery, London, UK (2015); and Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK (2014). He was awarded an OBE in 2011.

‘Making Do and Getting by’ is a new book by Richard Wentworth celebrating his photographic series of the same name.

Published by Koenig Books, London in association with Peter Freeman, Inc., New York and Lisson Gallery, the book investigates processes of perception and communication – how we see what we see, what we do with what we see, how we name what we think we have seen, who we share it with and who is speaking to whom.

Beyond this, it documents an excess – a creativity beyond necessary functionality, something transformative that lurks below the surface intention in acts of ordering and repair. In this ongoing series of photographs taken on his daily trajectories, Wentworth frames with a light and witty touch the art of the human hand.

The book features an interview with Richard Wentworth by Hans Ulrich Obrist, a long-time supporter of the artist’s work, and is available for purchase here. The book is also available from Koenig Books at the Serpentine Gallery and Whitechapel Gallery.