TRACEY EMIN

...even from when i was at school, when i had to a do a project, i'd use myself as the subject. and when i learnt to draw, after doing life drawing classes, i would then go home and look in the mirror and draw myself. and the people i was really influenced by like edvard munch, egon schiele and german expressionism...these people always used themselves as their subject matter. mind you, then, so did van gogh, so did chagall, so did picasso. so it's not like a new thing, it's just such an old-fashioned thing.

i finally got an opportunity to watch virginia trioli's artscape interview with tracey emin and was left pretty impressed. i've always liked emin's art - even though her work is so enshrouded in the tragedies, humiliations and disappointments of her life that it has been left open for critics to dismiss the confessional and intimate elements of her art as confrontational shock tactics. case in point: i was recently involved in a conversation with an artist who had been to see her latest exhibition at the hayward gallery in london and could see very little merit in the art that she produces (the presence of tampons in the exhibition was particularly affronting- dear me!).

as i was watching the interview i was delighted by emin's warmth, intelligence and humour. although her work is imbued with emotion and melodrama, it is also highly conceptual and she articulated the ideas behind her pieces brilliantly. there is no doubt that her art has the capacity to make the viewer uncomfortable and to polarise wider audiences. she deals with subjects that would conventionally remain hidden and that are generally relegated to the private sphere - not embroidered into fabric, scrawled onto paper and inscribed in neon. using her personal experiences as the raw material for her art is sometimes unsettling in its brutal honesty, but also unapologetically beautiful.

you can watch the interview online here.

replies

hanna: yes, i liked the lykke li session too.

tc: i am glad you like it :)

kristina: definitely give the bread a try - it's unbelievably easy and extremely delicious.

nancy baric: thanks lady!

koey: hong kong really needs a good music festival...maybe in somewhere like victoria park?

see hear say:  agreed!

camila faria: oh yes, kate is one talented lady. she always manages to capture the nicest little aspects of life.

primoeza: what a shame we're not seeing the festival in the same city!

1957: i hope your recipe turned out well.

adeline: : )

ttfn: thank you!

sundari: indeed!