Tracey Emin (1963 - )
Related: contemporary art - British art
Tracey Emin (2006) - Tracey Emin
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]The most highly publicized of the infamous Young British Artists, Emin has stirred as much controversy as she has acclaim, being both highly personal and extremely original in her art. Emin's work is engaging, titillating, disturbing, and startlingly confessional. One of her most famous pieces is Everyone I Ever Slept With 1963-1995, a tent appliquéd with names. Another notorious work, My Bed—the scene where she spent four days contemplating suicide—was exhibited at Tate Britain when the artist was short-listed for the Turner prize in 1999. Though denounced by conservative critics at the outset, Emin's work has attracted serious critical attention for more than a decade. In the words of Art in America, "What brought Emin to prominence was shock value, but what keeps her work powerful as she continues is the strength and nuance of its form and content." Compiled in close collaboration with the artist herself—and unprecedented in its scope—this is the definitive book on Emin, featuring drawings, paintings, sculptures, appliqués and embroideries, neon and video stills as well as her own writing. --from the publisher
Biography
Tracey Emin (born 1963) is an English artist, one of the so-called Young British Artists (YBAs). She is probably only second to Damien Hirst among the YBAs in terms of notoriety among the general public. In particular, her piece My Bed, part of 1999's Turner Prize exhibition, and consisted of her own unmade bed complete with used condoms and blood-stained underwear, brought her a great deal of attention from the press. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracey_Emin [Feb 2005]Top Spot
Appropriately taking its title from a teenage disco, this eagerly anticipated first feature from British artist Tracey Emin marks a beautiful new chapter in her rich body of autobiographical work. Drawing on her experiences of growing up in Margate, the film features six teenage girls - Frances, Helen, Katie, Kieri, Laura and Lizzie - who all have a story to tell. One moment filled with bravado, the next awkward and insecure, the girls' stories capture the essence of being a teenager, resonating with our own remembered experiences. Alongside these, the film is also an evocative poem to Margate, as Emin mixes DV footage and gorgeous Super 8 film into lyrical montage. Obvious but true, there is both artistry and craft in her editing style, linking the natural beauty of the sea and the sunsets with Margate's more man-made pleasures, and underscoring them with a great selection of songs. As with much of Emin's work, the biographical detail lends a poignancy and sense of sadness, lifted by the artist's own indomitable spirit. Shot last summer in Margate, London and Egypt, this is personal history at its most adventurously cinematic. --http://www.lff.org.uk/films_details.php?FilmID=546 [Oct 2004]
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