Always at the centre of her own world, Tracey Emin CBE (트레이시 에민) uses all aspects of her life in her art, transforming the intimate autobiography into more comprehensive statements about sex, love, death, freedom and everyday life. Her work has taken the form of diarist drawings, paintings, films, sculptures and written stories, all of which convey the same combination of frustration, pain, compassion and wit. Drawing and printmaking have remained key media for Emin, and over the last ten years she has produced a steady stream of monotype prints directly from her drawings.
Tracey Emin CBE was born in London in 1963. She spends her time in the South of France, London and Margate where she also moved into her new studio in 2020. The studio will serve as a museum after her death.
Tracey Emin has had numerous exhibitions including a solo show at Château La Coste, Aix-en-Provence, France (2017); Leopold Museum, Vienna (2015); Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami (2013); Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (2012); Turner Contemporary, Margate, United Kingdom (2012); Hayward Gallery, London (2011); Kunstmuseum Bern (2009); Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2008); Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Malaga, Spain (2008); Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2003); and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2002). In 2007 Tracey Emin represented the UK at the 52nd Venice Biennale, and her installation My Bed was included in “In Focus” exhibitions at Tate Britain with Francis Bacon (2015), Tate Liverpool with William Blake, and also at Turner Contemporary, Margate alongside JMW Turner (2017). In 2011 Tracey Emin was appointed Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and in 2012 was made Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her contributions to the visual arts.
In November 2020, a major solo exhibition titled “The Loneliness of the Soul” opened at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. The exhibition was on view at the Edvard Munch Museum in Oslo in 2021, followed by the unveiling of “The Mother,” her permanent public loan to Oslo Museum Island. The portfolio “These Feelings were True” with eight lithographs was also published in this context.
Tracey Emin’s unusual journey from vulgar upstart to art world establishment:
Alongside David Hockney and Damien Hirst, Emin is undeniably one of Britain’s most famous artists, an icon of the YBA who has become a household name – at least in her home country – the very image of the artist as a brand. Her work, which cuts across a variety of media, is both deeply personal and instantly recognizable – and despite its confessional nature, it has become emblematic of a certain kind of luxury consumption. Her spidery drawings of files, reminiscent of Schiele, and the pink neon colors of handwritten sentences can be found everywhere from Puff Diddy’s collection to the Eurostar terminal at Saint Pancras station, with her cursive as distinctive as the logo of a high-end fashion label.
Emin’s celebrity, then, could be seen as a hindrance to judging her art. If you think respectability is the kiss of death for artistic integrity, you might well find Emin’s work problematic: As a professor of drawing at the ultra-patrician Royal Academy in London and the holder of a number of titles (in 2013 she was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire), it’s fair to say that Emin became famous a long time ago. Possibly alluding to her public support of his right-wing Conservative party in 2009, one of Emin’s neon images with the nondescript words “More Passion” was emblazoned on the walls of 10 Downing Street during Prime Minister David Cameron’s ill-fated tenure. Nothing and no one can be more establishment than that.
Twenty years ago, long before she rose to the higher ranks of society, Emin was a pariah in the national consciousness. In 1999, she was nominated for the Turner Prize, Britain’s most prestigious art award. Although the prize money is relatively small – £25,000 goes to the winner and £5,000 to each of the other three shortlisted artists – the awards ceremony is a major event, broadcast live on prime-time evening television. Simply put, it’s the one moment in the calendar year when the general British public pays attention to new art-and it did. Emin’s contributions to the Turner Prize exhibition that year triggered a media frenzy that enshrined her as the bad girl of British art and made her the target of furious attacks.
Certainly, any of the exhibits in Tracey Emin’s show would have warranted a certain amount of controversy in the exhibition. But the main exhibition, for which Emin was nominated, proved to be truly incendiary. Entering the gallery, you’re immediately greeted by the sight of a bed, the kind you might see in an IKEA showroom. But look closer: The cover is unmade, littered with cigarette ash and traces of random bodily fluids; empty cigarette packets scatter across the dirty blue carpet beside it, while liquor and blender bottles stand upright at the foot of the bed, surprisingly neatly arranged considering the circumstances; on the floor is a pair of scuffed novelty slippers that might have been called “cute” in happier times. Also scattered about are the black-and-gold cardboard backing for a pack of Duracell batteries, a wind-up dog of the kind you can buy at the supermarket, and – most sensational of all – a pair of underpants stained with menstrual blood.
Since 1998 the record price for this artist at auction is $4,365,646 USD for My Bed, sold at Christie’s London in 2014.
Selected Exhibitions:
2023 Lovers Grave, White Cube New York
It’s different When You are in Love, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made, Faurschou Foundation, New York
You Should Have Saved Me, Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, Rome
2022 I Lay Here For You, Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, UK
A Journey from Death, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, UK
2021 Video Works, 1995 – 2017, Xavier Hufkens Online
Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch, The Loneliness of the Soul, Munchmuseet, Oslo, Norway
The News is I Love You, Shreeji News, London
2020 Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch, The Loneliness of the Soul, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Living Under the Hunter’s Moon, White Cube, London
Detail of Love, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
I Thrive on Solitude, White Cube Online
2019 A Fortnight of Tears, White Cube, London
An Insane Desire For You, Art Projects Ibiza, Spain
The Fear of Loving. Orsay through the eyes of Tracey Emin, Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Leaving, Lorcan O’Neill, Rome
2018 Distance of Your Heart, LoveArt, Sydney
The Distance of Your Heart, Public Art Commission (permanent), Sydney
I Want my Time With You, Terrace Wires Art Commission, St. Pancras
International, London
2017 Tracey Emin: The Memory of your Touch, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Surrounded by You, Château La Coste, Le Puy Sainte Réparade, France
My Bed, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK
2016 New Monotypes, Carolina Nitsch, New York
Tracey Emin and William Blake in Focus, Tate Liverpool, UK
The more of you the more I love you, Art Basel Unlimited, Switzerland
Stone Love, Lehman Maupin, New York
I cried because I love you, Lehmann Maupin; White Cube, Hong Kong
2015 Waiting to Love, Lorcan O’Neill, Rome
Tracey Emin | Egon Schiele, Where I want to go, Leopold Museum, Vienna
BP Spotlight: Tracey Emin and Francis Bacon, Tate Britain, London
2014 The Last Great Adventure is You, White Cube, London
My Heart is with You Always, The Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong
2013 Angel Without You, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida
Roman Standard, Art Production Fund Commission, Petrosino Park, New York
I followed you to the sun, Lehmann Maupin, New York
Self-Portrait, Château La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, Provence, France
2012 You Saved Me, Lorcan O’Neill, Rome
You Don’t Believe in Love But I Believe in You, White Cube, São Paulo
How it feels, MALBA, Buenos Aires
Latitude Contemporary Art, The Latitude Festival, Suffolk, UK
She Lay Down Deep Beneath the Sea, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK
2011 The Vanishing Lake, White Cube off site, Fitzroy Square, London
No Love You’re Not Alone, Gianni & Grazia Bolongaro Collection, Liguria, Italy
Love is What You Want, Hayward Gallery, London
Do Not Abandon Me, (with Louise Bourgeois) Hauser & Wirth, London
2010 Praying To A Different God, Amanda Love Art, Sydney
Do Not Abandon Me, (with Louise Bourgeois), Carolina Nitsch, New York
Walking With Tears, Royal Academy of Art, London
Why Be Afraid?, Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, Rome
2009 Only God Knows I’m Good, Lehmann Maupin, New York
Tracey Emin: Those Who Suffer Love, White Cube, London
Tracey Emin 20 Years, Kunstmuseum Bern
Tracey Emin: Strangeland, Blumenbar Verlag, Berlin
2008 Tracey Emin 20 Years, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga, Spain
Liverpool Cathedral Commission, UK
Tracey Emin: 20 Years, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
2007 Tracey Emin: You Left Me Breathing, Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, California
Tracey Emin: Borrowed Light, 52nd
Venice Biennale, British Pavilion
2006 More Flow,Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, Rome
2005 I Can Feel Your Smile, Lehmann Maupin, New York
When I Think About Sex…, White Cube, London
Death Mask, National Portrait Gallery, London
2004 Monoprints, Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile
Tracey Istanbulda, Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul
BP British Art Displays, Tate Britain, London
I’ll Wait For You in Heaven, Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, Rome
Can’t See Past My Own Eyes, Sketch, London
Fear, War And The Scream, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney; City Gallery,
Wellington, New Zealand
2003 Menphis, Counter Gallery, London
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2002 This is Another Place, Modern Art Oxford, UK
Ten Years. Tracey Emin, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
I Think it’s in my head, Lehmann Maupin, New York
Tracey Emin Showreel, The Genesis Cinema, London
Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
2001 You forgot to kiss my soul, White Cube, London
2000 Love is a Strange Thing, Fig.-1, London
What Do You Know About Love, Carlier/Gebauer, Berlin
1999 Tracey Emin Every Part of Me’s Bleeding, Lehmann Maupin, New York
1998 Sobasex (My Cunt is Wet with Fear), Sagacho Exhibition Space, Tokyo
Cunt Vernacular, Carlier/Gebauer, Berlin
I Need Art Like I Need God, Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen, Germany
Galerie Philippe Rizzo, Paris
1997 Solo Exhibition, Moo Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
I Need Art Like I Need God, South London Gallery
5th Istanbul Biennial, Pera Palace Hotel
1996 It’s not me that’s crying, it’s my soul, Galerie Mot & van den Boogaard, Brussels
Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made, Galleri Andreas Brändström, Stockholm
Solo Exhibition, Habitat, London
1995 Tracey Emin Museum, 221 Waterloo Road, London SE1 (closed 1998)
1994 Art Cologne, Sponsored Artist, Jay Jopling/White Cube
Exploration of the Soul – Journey Across America, Readings: Rena Bransten, San Francisco; Regen Projects, Los Angeles, California; Museum of Contemporary
Art, San Diego, California; David Klein Gallery, Detroit, Michigan; Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Sandra Gering Gallery, New York; White Columns, New York
1993 My Major Retrospective, Jay Jopling/White Cube, London
From Army to Armani, (with Sarah Lucas), Analix Gallery, Geneva
The Shop, (with Sarah Lucas), 103 Bethnal Green Road, London