Richard Tuttle's Tate Modern's Turbine Hall piece has been unveiled

The Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern has an incredible presence when it’s void of installations, which is what’s so wonderful about the huge enclosed space. As much as I admire the vast emptiness though, it’s even more exciting when a piece of work is placed in the hall and interrupts the vacuum. Opening today, American sculptor Richard Tuttle is the latest commissioned artist to show his work in the space and his 24ft sculpture certainly makes an impact.

Intended to resemble aeroplane wings, the sculpture sees swathes of burnt amber and rose red fabric draped over a wooden frame and is suspended gracefully in the hall. Titled, I Don’t Know. The Weave of Textile Language there’s a real natural beauty to the piece and rather than impose itself on the space, it reacts to it instead letting the light alter its shades and tones.

Normally working on a much smaller scale, this textile-based installation is Richard’s biggest piece to date and sits in conjunction with a retrospective of his work simultaneously showing at the Whitechapel Gallery under the same name. It’s there you’ll see five decades of his work unfolded where he further explores the importance of materials and textiles throughout history.

What’s fantastic about the Turbine Hall commissions is that they instantly connect the public to the work through their colossal scale, and Richard’s captivating piece in particular encourages visitors to look up and engage with the sculpture.