The Materials and Appropriation of Tracey Emin
Lucy-Grace Atkinson
BA Hon’s Fine Art
November 2010
1988 Word Count
The Materials and Appropriation of Tracey Emin
The Materials and Appropriation of Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin or better known as Tracey Emin was originally born in London in 1963, she was brought up in Margate with her twin brother Paul by their mother from a very early age (hence the well known nickname, ‘Mad Tracey from Margate’). From a very early age Emin was subjected to sexual abuse, which in turn has been the subject for a substantial amount of her work including sexual nature. Emin attended the Royal College of Art in which she gained an MA in painting. But Emin has described this period in her life as a negative experience, as she felt as though the other students attending the college were far too posh, thus creating an alienated experience.
“Emin has described feeling conspicuously different and alienated from other students.”
(Brown, 2006, page 16)
Emin is also a member of the Young British Artists group (YBAs) and it is also wildly known that Emin came up with the name for the Stuckism movement in which her boyfriend at the time Billy Childish was a member of. It is believed that the name for this movement came about by Emin claiming that his oeuvre was ‘stuck’.
"Your paintings are stuck, you are stuck! – Stuck! Stuck! Stuck! (That is, stuck in the past for not accepting the YBA approach to art).” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracey_Emin 16/11/2010
So who is Tracey Emin? Is she a painter, print maker, photographer, instalaitionist, film maker, sculptor or writer? I would actually consider Tracey Emin to be all of these professions, including much more, due to the wide variety of her skills. Her work consists of a number of techniques that we, as the viewer, have seen since she has been in the public eye from the early 1990’s. The range of materials Emin has used (and still uses to this very day) is very vast indeed. There are very few artists out there in the
BA Hon’s Fine Art
November 2010
1988 Word Count
The Materials and Appropriation of Tracey Emin
The Materials and Appropriation of Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin or better known as Tracey Emin was originally born in London in 1963, she was brought up in Margate with her twin brother Paul by their mother from a very early age (hence the well known nickname, ‘Mad Tracey from Margate’). From a very early age Emin was subjected to sexual abuse, which in turn has been the subject for a substantial amount of her work including sexual nature. Emin attended the Royal College of Art in which she gained an MA in painting. But Emin has described this period in her life as a negative experience, as she felt as though the other students attending the college were far too posh, thus creating an alienated experience.
“Emin has described feeling conspicuously different and alienated from other students.”
(Brown, 2006, page 16)
Emin is also a member of the Young British Artists group (YBAs) and it is also wildly known that Emin came up with the name for the Stuckism movement in which her boyfriend at the time Billy Childish was a member of. It is believed that the name for this movement came about by Emin claiming that his oeuvre was ‘stuck’.
"Your paintings are stuck, you are stuck! – Stuck! Stuck! Stuck! (That is, stuck in the past for not accepting the YBA approach to art).” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracey_Emin 16/11/2010
So who is Tracey Emin? Is she a painter, print maker, photographer, instalaitionist, film maker, sculptor or writer? I would actually consider Tracey Emin to be all of these professions, including much more, due to the wide variety of her skills. Her work consists of a number of techniques that we, as the viewer, have seen since she has been in the public eye from the early 1990’s. The range of materials Emin has used (and still uses to this very day) is very vast indeed. There are very few artists out there in the
References: * Brown, N (2006) Tracey Emin. London * Ward, G (2003) Teach Yourself Postmodernism. WMC Handbook, Vincent Lavell 2010 * www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk * www.wikipedia.org * www.news.bbc.co.uk * www.tate.org.uk