Turner contemporary Margate
Tracey Emin (1963-) ‘My bed’ 1999.
This was part of another exhibition and when Emin exhibits this installation she requests that art shown on the walls adjacent to ‘My bed’ be traditional artistic expressions and in this case it was the painterly expressions of Turner (1775-1850) Known for his grandiose energy and temperament. The juxtaposition is directing to the ideal of the value we attach to art. Would you prefer to spend large sums of money on an original Turner or a Tracey Emin installation? The tension between the works of art allows for this discourse of ‘how do we value (not monetary) Art today. If the installations were displayed alongside another installation, let’s say from another ‘enfant terrible’/ controversial avant-garde generation of British Artist; Damien Hirst, then the interest would have been more about the work today by artists and not about the contradiction of what is considered art. An unmade stained bed with cigarette butts, pantihose, towels, old unfinished cups of tea, bottles of alcohol, Tampons , used condoms and the remnants and debris of Tracey Emin’s life. She took note of the mess in an emotional sense after an argument with her boyfriend. She saw her bedroom as a mess, how down and out she was, how rock bottom she was feeling and she then made a decision to move on from her relationship and her rock bottom life, it was a sign post of directional change in her life. Her work is often autobiographical and she has had a rough time of it; being raped at 13, a number of abortions and living in a verbally abusive time and environment has been confessed in a sexual explicit way in her work with all types of media. I have read how this ‘working things out’ worked for some artist, but can be understood as indulging in self-pity, and a step in a direction of working it out thought the process of a cry for help. When I walked into the room at the Turner Contemporary in Margate I was trying to see this Bed through my eyes as an artist. I read the annotation which explained what was going on in Tracey’s Emins life at the time and the reason for creating a reincarnation of her bedroom. Once I had this information, I cleared my thoughts of the negative vibes that is often associated with Tracey Emin. I saw a moment, which looked desperate, depressing, dirty and isolated, I could understand why she just turned around a left that life behind, and there was nothing worth keeping. What I gained most from this room of the gallery was the tension between the atmospheric and wildly painted canvases from 150 years ago to the vulnerable intimate domain of Tracey Emin’s bedroom. The contrast is tantalising, it’s deceptive and although the artists have used different mediums, the subject is about inviting the viewer to an experience and I’m pleased I experienced it.
Reference
Art by Robert Cumming. DK pubishing.london 2005
Art and Artist Dictionary. By Ian Chilvers Oxford. 2009
https://www.turnercontemporary.org/exhibitions/my-bed
EARLY-MORNING THOUGHTS 