TRACEY EMIN

Tracey Emin is a notable and prolific British artist recognized for her place in the Young British Artists (YBA) movement of the 1990s, and in particular for her provocative and controversial works such as Everyone I have ever slept with 1963-1995 and My Bed, which was on display at London’s Tate gallery as part of her nomination for the Turner Prize in 1999.

Emin typically explores very personal and sometimes turbulent childhood experiences and sexual history in her art which is often described as confessional. These sources are reflected very literally, creating strikingly autobiographical pieces, the titles of which convey exactly what the viewer sees without veiling the works in metaphor or symbolism. She works in a wide variety of media including neon lighting, needle point, and photography.

The works presented in ‘Tracey Emin: Self-Portraits’ offer an intimate insight into the mind of the artist from a pivotal moment in her career; the early noughties. Diverse in output with a clear unification of tone, presented together the series of self portraits offer a carefully choreographed construct which invites the audience to share in the mind and experience of the artist on the day of production; 12th November 2001. An early form of what we know colloquially now know as the ‘selfie’ (the term of which first appeared in print almost a year later in September 2002), the works are chaotic yet calm, angry yet serene, individually fleeting yet together provide a highly stylised and considered self portrait for the modern YBA.

“Tracey Emin has no secrets, she exposes herself utterly, you can see there are no skeletons in her closet because the closet door is open and you are welcome to look inside. Her art is not a record of emotion, but the hot stew of emotion as it comes fresh from the heart-anger, pain, confusion, desolation, occasionally happiness-always with the implicit question ‘What is going on here?’“Lynn Barber, Parkett No. 63, 2001