Rebecca Warren positions herself within the lineage of a sculptural tradition. She re-works and intentionally misappropriates existing images by the accepted masters of figurative sculpture, including Degas, Picasso and Rodin, as well as drawing on more contemporary artists such as R. Crumb and Helmut Newton. Warren pays homage to her heroes while gently questioning their authority.

Warren’s unfired clay sculptures project a sense of unleashed creativity, appearing to explode out of and merge back into the amorphous properties of the material.

In contrast, her wall-based vitrines, containing various detritus collected in and around the studio, have none of the clay works’ rough-hewn vitality. Each object is carefully assembled to draw out its particular emotional and associative resonances, elevating discarded leftovers to the status of art object while flouting conventional hierarchies of display.

In her new series of bronze works Warren further explores the degradation of established form. After receiving the clay originals back from the foundry, bashed and misshapen from the casting process, Warren revised and added to them before returning them for recasting. Repetitions can be detected between works as well as traces of rubber from their extraction from the moulds, thus showing disregard for the traditional connotations of the material.

Ideas of self-expression, gender and the nature and purpose of sculptural form converge in Warren’s work. However, she adopts a deliberately precarious stance, reinforcing a slippage of meaning through her hybrid titles which incorporate references to films, songs and made-up words, which mirror the varied forms of her work.

Rebecca Warren has been nominated for her exuberant sculptural installations as seen in her solo exhibitions at Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, and Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, and for her contribution to the Tate Triennial 2006. Her works combine a wide range of source with a strong formal awareness, injecting conventional materials with a sensual physicality to create something wholly new.

Rebecca Warren: Three Minute Wonder

Directed by Emily Dixon
Sculptor Rebecca Warren reveals her process, influences and motivations in a frank and playful film about her work.

Rebecca Warren Turner Prize installation, 2006 Photo: Sam Drake and Mark Heathcote © Tate 2006 enlarge

Rebecca Warren Turner Prize installation, 2006 Photo: Sam Drake and Mark Heathcote © Tate 2006 enlarge

Rebecca Warren Loulou 2006 Reinforced clay, acrylic paint Approx 40 x 19 x 21 Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York and Maureen Paley, London © the artist enlarge

Rebecca Warren 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 or 2005 2006 Mixed media 28.6 x 137.8 x 42.5 Courtesy Maureen Paley, London © the artist enlarge

Rebecca Warren Donald Young, Installation view Courtesy of the artist, Donald Young and Maureen Paley enlarge

Rebecca Warren Pony, 2003 Courtesy the artist and Maureen Paley enlarge

Audio Guide

The Turner Prize 2006 audio guide is available from the ticket office outside the exhibition.
Listen to three clips from the audio guide below.

Audio guide transcripts: Rebecca Warren JJ Charlesworth on Rebecca Warren Andrew Renton on Rebecca Warren

You must have version 8 or higher of the Flash Player installed on your computer in order to view the mp3 player, select and playback tracks. To download the latest version of Flash see here.

Artist Biography

1965	Born London
1989–92	Goldsmiths College, University of London
1992–93	Chelsea College of Art
Lives and works in London