Tracey Emin: Love is What You Want

"Art is an extended act away from the being, art is something else. Not everything can be art, and just because you're an artist doesn't mean everything you touch is art. You have to decide and know what is art, and you have  to be separate from yourself."

-Tracey Emin -1st August 2009-

Well said, Emin.

The problem with contemporary art nowadays is that it can be irritatingly quotidian, or wants to draw attention to itself or it comes with an invisible 'SHOCK HORROR' banner. As are the Tracey Emin's works: exposed and autobiographical. As Emin so eloquently said 'Not everything can be art', how can we approach her works as pieces of art?

Her recent exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, 'Love is What You Want' spans through every aspect of her artistic career, exploring all media; paintings, drawings, memorabilia, needlework, photography, neons, films, expressing a spectrum of sentiments resulting in an equally wide spectrum of works.Works which of course have a sprinkling of her light-hearted playfulness, ironic wit and frank nature:

My natural childish impulse meant that I found myself sniggering in the dark corridors where these were displayed...with other people. Neon has its seedy parallels, but our Tracey finds them 'sexy' and 'pulsating'.

Questionable is her section about her abortion, in which she openly talks about the procedure, her thoughts on motherhood in 'How it Feels' of 1996. This provides the sugar coating to the 'memorabilia' around it; her used tampons in particular (though shrivelled they are) saw many wrinkle their nose is disgust and disapproval (I chuckled again, obviously.)

The films cover themes of tragedy and comedy, (see above, 'Why I never became a dancer' of 1995, shows her free-spirited dance after recalling being rejected for dancing. The music in her low-tech videos play a key part.

Wild, public drunkard though she may be (or was now, I believe Emin has shed her skin) Tracey Emin does heavily consider what people think of her (yes, SHOCK-HORROR), although most of the time it appears she does not take herself seriously. She is, vulnerable and longing and motherly; something I discovered in her section on abortion. She's not what we all thought.

I am angry. The BP Portrait Award @ The National Portrait Gallery (Unfinished)

I confess I've never been to the BP Portrait Prize before, and from all its high praise and esteem from those who have been and told me, I had this preconception that it would indeed be this shiny and mind-blowing exhibition.

'Just to Feel Normal', Ian Cumberland

In 3rd place was Ian Cumberland with 'Just to Feel Normal'. I am amazed at the utter honesty in which Cumberland decided to paint in. It's incredible: every facet, every surface goes unmissed, the man's face is strangely illuminated in a sickly silvery light which give his skin a veiny, marble effect. His exhaustion takes shape in the form of two orange patches around his asymmetric eyes. In effect, this portrait shouldn't work aesthetically, but with its honest hyper-realism, it does. It works so well.

The runner-up was Louis Smith

W/ the altarpiece framing

'Holly', Louis Smith

What an innovation! This 8ft canvas (altarpiece?) shows the recreation of the story of Prometheus, who was bound to a rock after stealing from Zeus and left to be eaten to death by an eagle. The model here looks up at the supposedly approaching eagle with a calm submission. She is depicted beautifully with a similar chiaroscuro to Caravaggio's dramatic paintings (although not as dark and plenty of contextual background). The crowd was always -surprisingly- flocked around this particular painting. 

And the 1st prize:

'Distracted', Wim Heldens

I am so angry. Well, more disappointed. It took me forever to find this painting, and after seeing a sharp crescendo in Cumberland and Smith's work, I was expecting 1st prize to surpass them (I am not saying however that it needed to be so inexplicably amazing). Frankly, this is a portrait that I would walk past, in fact, I almost did on the way out, had it not been for the loud orange sign. In its defence, the curating did not help; as a visitor, I would have liked a more linear procession towards the 1st prize, and that would have been satisfied if this was placed in the back room. It's predictable, I know. But let's face it, predictable works. Instead it was placed on the most obscure wall near the front.

To balance out my negativity, it does have a nice context; Heldens is depiciting 25-year-old Jeroen, Helden's father figure. The NGP's director and chair of judges stated his work was 'a quiet but evocative study'. Yes, after standing in front of it for half a minute, I did feel a sense of quiet dignity and childish pride for someone they admire creep in. Quiet confidence is always a dark horse. I feel a little guilty now. But only a little.