Tracey Emin @ the Hayward

This month I visited the Tracey Emin retrospective 'Love Is What You Want' at the Hayward Gallery in the Southbank Centre in London.




I am interested in Emin's ideas but I have never really been a huge fan of her work.  Things that I do like about her work are the crossovers between art and craft; and how daring she is to display her life to the public.  However, the 'diy' nature of her work has never really appealed to me.

Seeing the retrospective gave me a much better appreciation for her whole perspective and how her work connects so directly to her own experiences and that in some regards her 'diy' approach is important so that the work feels like it is coming from an individual and that it is handmade.  I was particularly taken with the room on her life and family.  The dynamics, influence and relationship with friends and family are crucial to Emin's work - particularly her relationship with her father.

One other thing that struck me while touring the exhibition is how closely associated her work (below left) is with that of conceptual artists like Mary Kelly (below right) who created her series of works titled 'Post Partum Document' in the 1970s.

         

In seeing these two works side by side the connections between Emin's work and that of conceptual artists like Mary Kelly is more than apparent.  The idea of creating work that is autobiographical is by no means new and Emin is drawing on a vast history of artists who develop their work based on their own experiences in life.  What makes Emin more popular today, perhaps, is our fascination with watching other people's live that has developed out of 'reality television' and the voyeurism which is now inherent in Western cultures.  As a result, we are more and more fascinated by Tracey Emin's documentation of her life and her openness about events that have made her in to the artist that she is.

Graham Crowley Visit

Graham Crowley visited the Atkinson Gallery today in advance of his exhibition this autumn.  He mentioned a really great link to his blog (he is on blogspot too!) and reference to recent interviews at the Core Gallery.

The links are here for you to view:

Graham Crowley's Blog

Core Gallery interview with Graham Crowley

Graham Crowley's Website

Have a look and think about relevant question that you could ask Crowley about his work.

Beautifully Abstract

I recently read an article in Artists & Illustrators magazine on the painter Jennifer Durrant RA titled 'Bright & Beautiful'. Durrant has been a Royal Academician (RA) since 1994, as such she is recognised as having contributed significantly the development of Art in Britain.  In the article her works are described as being "large-scale abstract works of colour-driven, meditative intensity."  I am attracted to her work because of the joy of colour and her confident use of colour.  I was also taken back by the modesty and hardworking nature of her career.  Coming from a middle class background she was always hardworking and felt that she would do an apprenticeship and work away until she was recognized.  As a result, she has been steadily produced work since the 1960s.  A small bit of inspiration for the day.

 

isolation / interaction

"If isolation tempers the strong, it is the stumbling-block of the uncertain." - Paul Cezanne, artist

“The television image … is an expansion of the tactile sense … a medium, which includes all of our senses in an in-depth interaction.” Marshall McLuhan, media theorist

The terms isolation and interaction offer the opportunity for students to develop work that is based on either one or both of the concepts.  The terms also provide an opening for a variety of genres, media and subject matter.  So ... it is up to you to discover your own way of interpreting these ideas and also to try and create a concept that will explore things that inspire you as well as play to your strengths and extend your artistic vocabulary. 

A variety of artists could be linked to this area of exploration.  Below are a few examples and possible interpretations.  Select an artist and explore/analyse how their work might be an effective response to the title 'isolation/interaction'.

... of form - Artists: Graham Crowley, Wanda Koop

 

... of people - Artists: Peter Doig, Elizabeth Peyton, Jenny Saville, Chiharu Shiota

         

... of objects – Artists: Vija Celmins, Luc Tuymans

   

... of ideas – Artists: Joseph Cornell, Keith Tyson, Yoshitomo Nara, Tracey Emin

     

... landscapes - Artists: Caspar Friedrich, Eleanor Bond, Paul Noble, Paul Catherall