Lamentations 2010: Rachel Kneebone
19 November 2010- 22 January 2011
White Cube Hoxton Square
Rachel Kneebone’s latest exhibition at the White Cube is a kind of Rococo for fans of abject erotica. The combination of complex subject matter and Kneebone’s superior grasp of the production of handmade porcelain sculpture make this a compelling show. The first part of the exhibition is located on the ground floor and is made up two sets of three sculptures dealing with loss and grief. These delicately glazed white sculptural forms offer a befitting language for dealing with this facet of a tragic human condition. Disembodied sexualised body parts in the process of becoming are mingled with more recognisable human forms that are being suffocated by a thick rope. From a distance these sculptures look like shrines to human debris, the bases of which are tellingly cracked, implying the deteriorating effects of the passing of time or perhaps the shaky foundations of historical continuity.
The second part of the exhibition, the ‘Shields’, is located on the first floor gallery. These ‘Shields’ are more like orgiastic wreaths, and within their delicate porcelain forms they show an imbrication of eroticism. Comprising of polymorphous sexual figures (made up of both phallus and orifice) the forms contort and writhe in their search for something to penetrate. Even the legs poking out from one particular ‘Shield’ are positioned amongst apparent ejaculation. Alongside this display the curator has included a series of drawings that were initial explorative studies for the ‘Shields’. The drawings lack the fluidity and unexpectedness that makes the sculptures so successful.
Lamentations has various far-reaching influences (Bellmer to Watteau) that add to the richness of its reading. However, to offer a simplified summation I would say that the exhibition offers a tantalizing insight into the dramatic chaos of the tragedy of unquenchable sexual hunger.
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