Tracey Emin has abandoned a disputed plan to demolish a building in East London to build a new studio space, The Guardian reports.  “Great care was taken to design this delightful, modest building on Bell Lane to blend with the traditional scale of the narrow streets around it,” says Henrietta Billings, director of Save Britain’s Heritage.  “Just a few hundred meters away from the office towers of the City, the historic streets in this area buzz with life thanks to their human scale – in spite of intense development pressures. We are delighted that the building has been reprieved.” (more…)

 

Tracey Emin, Resting, 2015 gouache on paper 8.78 x 11.89 inches Photo © George Darrell. © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2016. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

Stone Love defines a definitive next step for Tracey Emin, the already prolific artist whose now-three-decade long career has delivered a particular example of artistic sincerity and introspection throughout a wide range of artistic forms and formats.  Constantly returning to her own ambitious urge for self-discovery and contemplation, Emin’s body of work translates pristine and emphatic human instincts through her own intuitive lens. Referring to the first sentence in David Bowie’s 1972 song Soul Love, the exhibition considers alternate possibilities for love—arguably the most complex yet by far the most undertaken subject in art and literature.

Tracey Emin, Another way to Think of You, 2015 embroidered calico 89.76 x 90.94 inches Photo © George Darrell. © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2016. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

 

Tracey Emin, You were here like the ground underneath my feet, 2016 acrylic on canvas 60.24 x 83.86 inches Photo © George Darrell. © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2016. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

As the news in the run-up to this exhibition often dwelled on, Emin recently married a stone near her coastal studio (a scene depicted in one of her pieces), which she sees as a permanent object that will serve as a source of eternal fortitude. “Being in love with a stone is monumental”, Emin has said, walking through the exhibition of her signature neon texts, gouache on paper drawings and bronze sculptures, as well as some embroidery.  Stone renders a land of possibilities where loving singlehandedly nourishes its subject, unrestrained by societal or physical norms for desire.  As much as humanistic and philosophical, Emin’s narrative for the exhibition conveys her personal journey and her current emotional map as an artist and human being.

Tracey Emin: Stone Love Installation view, Lehmann Maupin, Photo © George Darrell. © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2016. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

Emin, stripping the restraints and impositions of physical love between two parties, approaches the phenomenon as an endeavor and, to some degree, a duty, waiting to be fulfilled.  Loving to love, as its own virtue, celebrated by David Bowie, leads Emin’s work towards an elimination of a desired object of affection.  Yet at the same time, the stone, appears in its original definition, as well as allegorizing transcendence beyond what is tactile and mundane.

Tracey Emin: Stone Love Installation view, Lehmann Maupin Photo © George Darrell. © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2016. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin.

Reading Just Let Me Love You in Emin’s own handwriting, the namesake neon piece is in conversation with bronze sculpture of an abstracted female figure, with her vulva facing the artist’s declaration of unrequited love, as if building an ephemeral bound between words and images both catering to her acclimation to an inner journey rather than an externalized ideal. Channeling one of her most iconic works, Everyone I’ve Slept With (1963-95), the show also includes a series of embroidered illustrations of female forms, which Emin appliqués mostly based on photographs of her nude self in various positions.  Tying the meticulous process of knitting with equally determined efforts invested in carnal infatuation and self-awareness, these large scale calicos deepen the dialogue around the mediative and eventually fruitful state of embarking on a journey—be it embroidering or falling in love.

Tracey Emin: Stone Love is on view at Lehmann Maupin through June 18, 2016.

Tracey Emin during the walkthrough of her exhibiton Stone Love at Lehmann Maupin, Photo: Osman Can Yerebakan

— O.C. Yerebakan

Related Links:
Lehmann Maupin [Exhibition Page]
W Magazine [Tracey Emin Talks Her Past and Marrying a Stone (Literally)]

Tracey Emin’s My Bed has gone back on view at the Tate Modern, following the work’s record-setting auction sale last year for £2.2 Million.  “I always admired the honesty of Tracey, but I bought My Bed because it is a metaphor for life, where troubles begin and logics die,” says its new owner, Count Christian Duerckheim. (more…)

The Guardian visits Tracey Emin in her Spitalfields studio this week, as the artist prepares for an exhibition of new work next month at White Cube.  “Work is good,” she says.  “If I don’t make things, I become ill and depressed. Painting makes me feel like a better human being. It’s what I’m supposed to be doing.”  (more…)

Sarah Lucas, Dacre (2013) via Osman Yerebakan

Britain introduced many significant female artists in the 90s during its highly touted YBA (Young British Artists) era, woman who presented feminine sexuality not as an object, but as a subject in itself. Commonly interpreted as a tool or a meta for male artists, female sexuality was reformed into ‘a maker’ that creates art alongside a group of female artists (with inspirations from pioneers such as Louise Bourgeois or Georgia O’Keeffe), instead of being the object that the hand works on. Artists like Tracey Emin, Sam Taylor-Wood and Sarah Lucas presented bodies of works that came from the essence of being a woman by explicating femininity in unorthodox ways.

Sarah Lucas, Priapus (2013) and Chicken Knickers (2014) via Osman Yerebakan (more…)

Tracey Emin recently sat down with The New York Times for a brief interview, discussing aging, her current show at Lehmann Maupin, and the valuation of her work as a woman.  “My work rarely comes up in secondary market, so it means that my prices stay low. But I’ll tell you about my contemporaries — if I sold every single thing in my whole show, it is still not as much as one painting of my male contemporaries.” (more…)

In a recent magazine interview with Vanity Fair, YBA veteran Tracey Emin has called out critics for judging her work much more harshly than her male counterparts.  She also discussed Roman Standard, her recent project for Petrosino Square in New York that placed a single bird on top of a 13 foot pole. “What I’m saying through the piece is that strength isn’t always about being big.”  She says. (more…)

Tracey Emin’s Roman Standard, a single bronze bird mounted atop a 13 foot pole, has been unveiled in New York’s Petrosino Square.  A collaboration between the Art Production Fund, White Cube and Lehmann Maupin, the piece is intended as a point of contemplation.  “Most public sculptures are a symbol of power which I find oppressive and dark,” said Emin. “I wanted something that had a magic and an alchemy, something which would appear and disappear and not dominate.”  (more…)

Coming off Tracey Emin’s presentation with a CBE, the artist has designed a limited-edition cover for Harper’s Bazaar Magazine.  A tribute to David Bowie in celebration of his new album, the cover features one of her signature neon hearts with the lines “You Loved Me Like A Distant Star.”  The 200 copies of the magazine will be available in advance of Bowie’s retrospective show at the Victoria and Albert Museum. (more…)

Tracey Emin has been honored with a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for her contributions to the arts.  Emerging as a leading member of the UK’s 1990’s contemporary arts scene, Emin was recognized for her ongoing contributions to British culture.  “Its amazing that I’ve been given this because its recognition for what I believe in and what I’ve worked for, so it’s a great feeling,” she said. (more…)

Tracey Emin, Floating, (2012), via Galleria Lorcan O’Neill

Currently open in Rome, Galleria Lorcan O’Neill’s fourth presentation of Tracey Emin’s work is a mature, low-key, yet penetrating selection of the artist’s diverse practice, showcased in both of their spaces on Via Orti D’Aliberti.  Emin has recently been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), as well as a professor of drawing at the Royal Academy (RA) along with Fiona Rae, making them the first two women to be elected into the academy.  Given her entrance into these exclusive circles as an official representative of British culture, the Italian location of this show offers an interesting reevaluation of Emin’s art.
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British artist Tracey Emin will exhibit her first American public art installation next month, taking over the enormous LCD billboards of Times Square with a selection of the artist’s handwritten text pieces on love.  The six works will be on view each night from 11:57PM to Midnight in February, coinciding with Valentine’s Day, and presented by the Times Square Alliance. (more…)

Tracey Emin was granted a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her outstanding contributions to the arts. “I think they pushed me in at the deep end. But I’m absolutely thrilled. It’s been insane trying to keep it a secret but I’m really looking forward to seeing the look on my mum’s face”, Emin said. (more…)

Anish Kapoor, Tracey Emin, David Hockney and Grayson Perry have created works to give to the Queen on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee. David Hockney used a drawing of her initials made on an iPad and Emin created a portrait of her on paper. In total 97 works were acquired for the Royal Collection and will be exhibited at Buckingham Palace in 2013.
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Sean Kelly Gallery, Los Carpinteros, Kosmaj Toy (2012).

All images by A.M. Ekstrand for ArtObserved, on location at Art Basel Miami Beach Fair.

Art Basel returned once again in Miami Beach this past week for the 11th annual Art Basel Miami Beach Fair. Featuring over 300 galleries representing 36 countries around the world, the show has exhibited marked growth from last year’s event, with well over 2,000 artists flocking to exhibit at what has become the internationally-renowned closing party for the world art market each year.  It is of course always an irony that tens of thousands will fly down for the events and parties, with many of them never visiting the vast aggregation of what it said to be roughly $1.5 billion worth of art in one (large) room, a collection that few museums in the world could compete with.   Below is a selection of some of the works we thought to be notable from the fair.

Helly Nahmad Gallery, Mark Rothko No. 1 (1957) and Alexander Calder, installation view

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White Cube announced that it will open a gallery space in São Paulo, Brazil. The gallery says it will be a 3-year commitment for now, adding its second international location outside of the UK (it recently opened a second international space in Hong Kong). The gallery will host a solo show of work by Tracey Emin to inaugurate the space. It will open December 1st in the Vila Mariana district of São Paulo, near the Parque Ibirapuera. (more…)

Tracey Emin – She Lay down Deep Beneath The Sea (2012) – Turner Contemporary

A few hours drive from London, on the Southeastern tip of the British mainland is the small seaside town of Margate.  It was here where Tracey Emin was born and where she spent her difficult early years, so often documented in the works that first made her a major force of the British art world of the mid to late 90’s.  Now, Emin has returned to her hometown, for an exhibition of new works at the newly opened Turner Contemporary.  “She Lay Down Deep Beneath the Sea” showcases a diverse range of sculpture, drawing neons, and painting.

Tracey Emin – Installation View – Turner Contemporary

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Tracey Emin‘s ‘The Central line’ design released as the 16th cover of the London Underground Tube Map.

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‬In a new interview with The Independent, Sarah Lucas does little to restrict her opinion of the art of fellow Young British Artists including that of Tracey Emin “[her work is] a bit second-rate, really, to exploit all that personal stuff”. “Tracey likes a lot of drama, which I don’t really.”

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Tracey Emin to carry the Olympic Torch today, completing her 400 meter leg at the Turner Contemporary in her hometown of Margate.

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Stephen Fry interviews Tracey Emin at Turner Contemporary in her hometown of Margate, who states, “if it hadn’t been for art, I think I’d probably be dead by now. Art is like my lover that keeps me alive.”

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‪‬Tracey Emin draws “strong and sexy and strident” rendering of the Queen of England, Elizabeth II, based on both meeting the queen and outside research and earlier images, to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee for Financial Times

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‪‬Tracey Emin designs London Tube map to print 18 million editions, available in June through the 2012 Olympics, the 16th in a series by Art on the Underground initiative

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‪‬Tracey Emin unveils British Airways A319 Air Bus Olympic-inspired ‘Dove’ plane artwork by Emin’s mentoree Pascal Anson [AO Newslink]

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