Keywords:
Ignorance
place-making art
The narrative of the objects
The work of Richard Wentworth is about the materials and objects whose components are fused or assembled by him into new forms and shapes. In his book Making do and letting by. He sees the street as a site of total gorgeousness' through which people's spontaneous and instinctive actions speak to him. Though no people are shown directly- it's objects and leftovers which act as protagonists - Wentworth believes the photographs are 'immensely collaborative' and so 'full of humans'.
" One of the things that might be argued in this is something to do with the place where innocence meets ignorance. There's something to do with ignorance. Or maybe there's a kind of look that is quite innocent. "（Richard Wentworth 1984，P5）
"What's very important for me is that the act of looking here is not illustrative.; while you think you are becoming engaged, or you think you know what it is, you will be distracted because its origin lies in the fact that humans are distractible, and a large part of their creative energy comes when they are distracted." (Richard Wentworth 1984，P7）
Wentworth's analysis of human resourcefulness and improvisation concentrates on non-conformity, on what people do when they have to think for themselves, and how the same problems are dealt with differently according to individuals and their circumstances. In many places in China, the functions of daily objects have been redefined. This comes from the creativity and imagination of citizens, and I will bring my awareness of my body into the observation of daily life, where objects are shaped by the space it is in, certain kinds of alienation happen afterwards.
"I am interested in the fact that we ourselves are spatial, and how we place something in space is always conditioned by that. I like the fact that in French the word for 'Place' is poser, which brings in the sense of stagy self-consciousness of posing. Objects speak of human intention in ways that we usually ignore." (Richard Wentworth 1984，P8）
Lots of photographs are about people trying to make the world do what they want it to do. This is definitely somebody making a place- this was not initially a place, It is the consequence of place-making. (Richard Wentworth 1984，P5）
It's not so much the rhyming forms, curious conjunctions or makeshift solutions which are celebrated in his work, so much as the actions which lie behind them. Wentworth's underlying theme is the everyday extent of human inventiveness and by implication the need to preserve it.
Books and other resources
Richard Wentworth, 1987. Richard Wentworth Sculpture 18th March to 12th April 1987. London: Riverside Studio.
Richard Wentworth, 1984. Making do and getting by. Hans Ulrich Obrist ed. London: Koening Books, Lisson Gallery.
Paul Carey Kent. 2015. MAKING DO WITH INFORMAL ARRANGEMENTS: RICHARD WENTWORTH AND MICHAEL WOLF. Available at: http://paulsartworld.blogspot.com/2015/12/making-do-with-informal-arrangements.html
