Going to see "Tracey Emin: Love is What You Want", I was in two minds about her work; after seeing it I'm in a mind and a half. Her messy life - and so much, if not all, of the work is about her life (she has said that life and work intersect "every day, every moment, every second") - makes me very uncomfortable; it's all over the place, even though there is a consistent theme. But the pieces in the last room, recent work, seemed more cohesive and approachable. The show had a lot of "memorabilia" including objects and text from and about her life - some of them strangely moving. The recent drawings in thread on sheets and blankets, is ... not exactly delightful, because of the subject matter, but striking and even beautiful - using lines of stitch masterfully (does she do her own stitching?) and not screaming at you the way the earlier "blankets" do (photo from this review).
The more recent blankets appear pale and demure but are actually quite aggressive. Even so, the monochrome draws you in to the point where you can get pleasure from the fabrics and stitching ... probably not what "art" is meant to do!
Once (and probably still) her drawing was in the form of monoprinting; now it extends to stitched lines. "My twin brain" (from here)
was my favourite piece - stitched on a very felty blanket with a bit of sheet added at the top, the imagery not toooo sexual for once. The quality of the line, made by variations in stitching, is so effective when seen up close.
Of the recent sculpture, the best part is often the plinths, made of old, weathered or painted wood, put together in interesting ways. I suspect that what seem like plinths are actually a meaningful part of the sculpture ... even last century, plinths were rather last century....
Wood is also used for the "garden shed at the end of the pier", one of the things that most appealed to me; lots of resonance there. It's called "Knowing My Enemy", from something her dad wrote, and she says, "I've often tried to make a place where I think my dad would be happy, or I would be happy."
Another of my personal "best in show" objects was the shawl she started crocheting when she was pregnant, and continued with for a while after the abortion. There's a big ball of yarn with a controlled bit of stitch and then a great tangle of yarn on a long, evil-looking crochet hook stuck through the untouched yarn. The female equivalent of fear of castration?
Of the neon works - every artist needs to make at least one neon work - in her very slanty handwriting, the ones with crossing-out stood out. You really did have to retrace the hand of the maker to "see" the crossing-out properly.
Another sculpture - under a jagged line of white neon - consisted of spiral "kitty steps" (photo from here) - which made me think of fan books - a structure to experiment with. So the exhibition has provided visual interest, food for thought and new ideas to try; it was definitely worth going.
Really interesting work. I do love that wood plinth -- although from a distance it looks like it has a pile of poo sitting atop it!
ReplyDeleteAstonishing amounts of work, in such different mediums. I laughed out loud at the idea that every artist should have at least one neon work -- I'll work on that!
ReplyDeleteI'm pondering what part pleasure has to play with art -- just reading "Art since 1940" by Fineberg. He says "enlarge and challenge" are the goals of art, but I think pleasure fits in there somewhere. Maybe his greatest pleasure is to have his mind engaged, so the challenge is part of it.
Thanks for the review. Emin is a fascinating persona.