Tracey Emin the artist

ahh but for art to be art it must have merit to the viewer. you dont like it. i do. more people out there dont like it. more people out there do. noone will ever like everything. i personally didnt see what the cup of water on a shelf in the tate modern had to do with anything, maybe someone did. at the end of the day there are always contraversial artists and contraversial pieces of art, the public will divide over them, but it does not stop them being art.

 

You've missed one very important point. I haven't once said that I don't think it's art.

 

Would someone be so kind as to stick some of her work up here in the thread?


I have heard (and seen i think) the messy bed thing she did....

I have to admit her art and name havent ever registered with me although now this discussion has come up I remember her.

I think that may say everything about my opinion towards her work... non descript?

I guess her art does nothing for me... strange because I usually love modern art... the Tate is my playground.

I don't know if I fancy her as I have never seen her.

As for her background?... We all have problems... turn to your friends for support not the general public IMO.

I enjoyed reading your views Dandy (and everyone else)... what an interesting thread

xxxx

 

It's not like she's seeking "support" I wouldn't say. She's just expressing her experiences. I thought the film she made sounded interesting when I read about it but I haven't seen it yet. I would like to ... I think her art is provocative and makes me think, even if I sometimes think "well that's a little self-indulgent"...

Here are some of the pieces mentioned in this thread.

MY BED:



EVERYONE I HAVE EVER SLEPT WITH:

 

Oooh. I like the last installation. Very "Thunderbirds". What's she trying to say with that piece?

 

Nah, dosn't move me at all in any way... will try to watch out for any new works with an open mind though..

Thanks for clarifying the issue on her personal life

 

I think you really need to see them in real life before making a judgement... that's the unique thing about installation art, it's a physical experience, something which can't be captured in photos.

 

I think its a load of bollox. I could transport my sons bedroom to the Tate Gallery if they would like to pay me. The effect would be pretty much the same. I could pitch a tent and cut out letters and photos to pin up inside it. A but of course thats no longer unique, someone has already done it. Oh well, Ill get a mate to sit in a bricked up cubicle on the crapper and see if I can get it into the tate gallery.

Sorry, but this is not art. If Tracy Emin went back to her roots and visited Turkey with her collection of art she would get laughed out of the country. But of course, in sophisticated UK we try and take an objective view of a pile of crap and see everything thats good about it. We try and look intelligent and say how wonderful the creases in the bed look and oh looky here theres a real pubic hair left for authenticity.

Bollox bollox bollox

Sorry

 

Ooops. Sorry. That mighta been me :&

 

I wont even ask how it got there

 

*yawn*

Reading stuff like this really makes me want to poke my eyes out with a fork.

"This is not art" ... so arrogant is this statement it makes my teeth itch. Since you therein declare yourself such an expert, kindly enlighten the world as to precisely where the boundary between what is art and what isn't art lies. It is a nonsense objection, parotted with not an ounce of thought applied.

I don't think Emin is a very important artist. I don't think she is an innovator. But at least try to use some imagination in approaching her work. Try to engage with it in a mature and thoughtful way... or perhaps an immature and thoughtful way might be more apt if we are to approach it on the level it demands to be approached. I quite liked this quote I read recently, I think it is perceptive and from what I know of Emin and her work, accurate:

"Tracey Emin is a dyslexic, nearly illiterate pyscho slut who cunningly put her pain on display to attain fame and notoriety in a culture that equates suffering with authenticity."

This is an approach to Emin's work which actually talks about what she does, rather than moaning in the tediously vapid tones of the pompous and unimaginative "that ain't art that ain't" dribble I quoted above.

I think Dok said it right before that she has a flair for marketing. If she can get a bed displayed in the Tate then good for her, that's what I say. I applaud it, I think it's an incredibly hilarious and creative thing to do. The randomness and spontaneity of Emin airing her dirty laundry in public has far more energy and life to it than a thousand boring naysayers wrestling in a bag.

 

Please go ahead and do us all a favour



I still say its bollox and quite a lot of people agree with me. Forcing your self imposed intelllectual twaddle on others and expecting us to reply in refined tones that suit your sensibility and high brow up your own back passage mannerisms is bullshit.

 

You are very entitled to say it is bollocks... however, when you start laying down your decree about what constitutes art and what cannot be art, then we are heading down the road of cultural fascism... and it is a very dangerous route to follow...

Remember, one of the most powerful things that the Nazis did was to control culture... this book is accectable but that one is not... if we claim to live in a free society, having a free culture is one of the most important symbols of that society... unfortunately, you have to accept that this means that you have to accept the bad culture that will come along with the good... and the definitions of what is good or bad will ultimately come down to subjective ideas of personal taste...

Tracey Emin's work has failed to have any profound effect upon me... what is more interesting is the phenomenon of celebrity surrounding Tracey Emin herself... however, I will defend her right to continue to create her art... just as I will continue to attack the elitest and capatalist institution of our contemporary art scene...

Fly...

 

What? Since when I have I dictated to you what constitues art and what cannot be art? Kinnell now I am a fascist?

I can call the Daily Mail fascist propaganda, I could say Kilroy was a **** - as so many people do on these forums. Yet to say I think Tracy Emin's work is a load of bollox is the subject of criticism? I repeat - I think it is bollox. Thats it simple - I think it is - not you think it is or anyone else thinks it is - plain simple - I think it is!!!

I am not forcing my views on anyone. Like it or lump it mate

 

I'm not sure I was "forcing" my "intellectual twaddle" on anyone. I was simply bemoaning the palpable lack of originality, imagination and creativity in your post on this subject. Your opinions are boring, they are easy, they are thoughtless. They are echoes of the run-of-the-mill kneejerk majority reaction to this issue; the fatuous assumptions of those who arrogantly assume they know what art is by denouncing that which is not art. If you are happy to side with the empty-headed majority and parrot platitudes which would go well in the Mail then that's entirely your choice. Some of us prefer to think a little.

 

Or I could just lay in my bed and "live" the art

Yes as I said before the Tate Modern in London is my favourite art gallery... I have been many times. Installation art can be very moving... It can also not move you at all.

She dosn't move me so far, sorry, am just being honest.... As I said before, I will look out for any new works on exhibition and view them with an open mind.

 

"Claire, shall we go and explore Paris, while we're here?"

"I'm sleeping"

 

I'm saddened and shocked by the ease with which people have started hurling personal insults at each other. I'm sure Sal will be along soon to give you all a stern telling off

 

Actually you have a point. I did write a scathing reply in defence of my actions but then I realised that I was indeed wrong. I did make a sweeping statement which was unimaginative and thoughtless.

I still don't like her work. That will not change but I respect the views of others and in future I will try harder not to go charging around like a bull in a China shop. I concede defeat.

- Sorry if this thread has offended anyone. I apologise to you showmet. You do write well. I do enjoy your posts really. I hope its a while before I have to eat humble pie again.