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| LOVE IS WHAT YOU WANT - THE TITLE PIECE OF THE EXHIBITION |
Tracey Emin's Press Launch - by far the most exciting thing I have been to Art-Wise in my entire life. A lovely exhibition and an exciting chance to meet the woman herself and hear what she had to say.
Doing a piece for it for the paper Exepose this week, but I was excited so I thought I would put the basic structure on here already.
The Article: Tracey Emin @ Hayward
Tracey Emin is one of the most famous living artists on the planet. Often dubbed by the media as ‘the bad girl’ of modern art, she is equally renowned as being a touchstone for creative young people across the planet. Love her or loathe her, there is no doubt Emin has made a lasting impact on the face of contemporary art. With all this in mind, I set off in trepidation to the launch of Emin’s first major survey in London, half expecting to witness the world’s press, taking the opportunity to throw a few below-the-belters at Emin face-to-face. The title of the exhibition is ‘Love is What You Want’ and luckily for this not-so young British Artist, I believe this is exactly what Emin will receive in reception to her stunning retrospective.
The Hayward gallery have used the space perfectly to create the exhibition with a sense of the shifting senses of intimacy and public statement that is so inherent in Emin’s work. Ralph Rugoff, Director at the Hayward explained that ‘we wanted to use the dynamic architecture to mark the changing rhythms in Emin’s work, catering from the most public of statements to intimate works that speak in a whisper’. The exhibition is full of intimate theatres where you watch the Emin’s personal memories. In these dark interior spaces, the viewer feels alone with Emin, provoking the feeling you know her very well, which of part of her magic. ‘Why I Never Became a Dancer’ is the most moving of all the videos – documenting Emin’s liberating decision to leave Margate, a site of depression, rape and childhood suffering in the simple statement ‘I'm leaving this place – I'm getting out of here’. The video jumps from Margate to Emin alone dancing hysterically in an empty room: free. It is the clearest example of ‘sticking it to the demons of the past’ and Emin’s genuine joy is contagious.
Tracey Emin arrived at the exhibition looking like a ferociously independent woman, but most of all, a woman comfortable in her own skin. The insecurities present in her work had evaporated as Emin took to the stage. Her message was optimistic and she clearly proud of the show, only admitting with half a smile ‘I’m a little bit embarrassed about those tampons over there; they were from a long time ago’. She spoke as an artist in their prime, with maturity and conviction; ‘Art in Britain has never been better. We have managed to do something over the last ten years that has not been done before. Britain is famous as a country for culture and arts, and that’s the soul of a country, isn’t it? Art is the soul’. Emin was enigmatic as a public speaker, and her ability to bravely confessional publically was demonstrated as she stood on the stage in front of a family photo from Emin’s childhood, at the village wrestling tournament, with her voice wavering as she said ‘my dad died a year ago today but I’m really glad he is here standing behind me now. He was very important to me’. I think it is the level of which Emin is unafraid to share emotion and pain that makes her such an important artist in the modern world. Her work is not just about sex and masturbation, Emin explained ‘it is mainly about intimacy and about love’. Her work is about the stuff of life, expressed in its varying forms and mediums, with its highs and lows, and it speaks the honest truth.
Tracey Emin has always been someone who I have admired, her work may not be the most aesthetic, or of the highest conceptual calculation, but it speaks of things that everyone can associate with, even if only in a small way. As the Q&A with Emin drew to a close I decided now was the chance to pose a burning question to Emin face-to-face: what was the moment she knew that she was going to make a career as an artist. Her Answer: ‘I held an exhibition in the South London Gallery in 1997, and I arrived, and people were queuing around the block, and I thought, what’s happened? Is there a fire? But then when I got to the door, I realised people were queuing as the exhibition was full and people were waiting to get inside, to see my work – that when I knew that I was going to make a living out of art. Today is also a very important day, coming back to London, where my harshest critics are, I hope people like the show, I am very proud’. I can only recommend the Emin exhibition for yourselves, it is the perfect introduction for people who have not given her a chance before, but it is also an exhibition to convert her critics and please her fans to the core.
