Ten Years Tracey Emin
dal 18/10/2002 al 31/12/2002
Segnalato da
18/10/2002
Ten Years Tracey Emin
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
This exhibition is a real test case, both for the artist and the Museum: is Emin's work "museal" enough? Is the Stedelijk, even though it is the first museum in the world to present a survey of her oeuvre, 'too late', or should it have waited until Emin became a 'modern classic'?
If there is one artist for whom life and art overlap, that is certainly Tracey Emin. For the last decade she has created a furore in often sensational ways with work in which an outspoken autobiographical element predominates. This exhibition is a real test case, both for the artist and the Museum: is Emin's work "museal" enough? Is the Stedelijk, even though it is the first museum in the world to present a survey of her oeuvre, 'too late', or should it have waited until Emin became a 'modern classic'? Should artists like this be shown earlier in the new Stedelijk, or on the contrary, later? What is certain is that a wide public will have a chance to become acquainted with the work of this famous 'Young British Artist'.
The Stedelijk is continuing a tradition with this exhibition, which follows the acquisition of a neon work by Emin earlier this year. The Museum has frequently followed developments in British art, which often has a personal and frank character. For years now Gilbert & George, for instance, have been amply represented in the Stedelijk collection. Among the works added to the collection over the last decade were David Robilliard's painted cries from the heart, and recently also the strongly personally-coloured photography of Sam Taylor Wood. In the visual artists, Emin is one of the artists who has most strongly defined the image of this genre over the last decade. It began with her controversial performances in which, among other things, she had herself locked in naked in order to paint a series of works, straight from the heart. The installation which resulted from this, Exorcism of the Last Painting I ever made (1997), is included in this overview. Her youth and her explorations in the area of sex are amply present in various works, including the controversial installation Everyone I have ever slept with. The work includes the names of everyone with whom Emin ever shared a bed.
Everyone I have ever Slept With 1963 -1995
Emin's oeuvre cannot be seen apart from the course of her life. Personal events are processed into installations, performances, video works, textile text works, neons, prints, photographs and drawings. But Emin is also the artist who, together with her colleague Sarah Lucas, ran a shop for a long period in 1993 with self-made objects. Later she opened the Tracey Emin Museum, where, as well as being director and guard, she was also the only one to show. She shut it down when too many art academy classes came on tour, and it gradually was becoming too far outside "ordinary" life.
Emin's presence will be felt particularly in the eight video works being shown. Her text works, in the form of quilts and neons, will also be emphatically present. Intimate drawings with a personal signature betray her fascination for Munch and Schiele.
With the opening of Ten Years Tracey Emin, the Stedelijk completes its closing programme with a compelling ensemble of exhibitions. In addition to the Emin survey a much wider range of modern art is being offered: classic modern (Colin McCahon), photography (the Bechers), contemporary (Ackermann) and Amsterdam Municipal Art Acquisitions.
For the present, there is insufficient space to combine an exhibition programme like this with a fine presentation of the Stedelijk's own collection. That space will become available when the Museum's expansion plans are realised.
Ten Years Tracey Emin will open on Friday, October 18, at 5:00 p.m., in the presence of the artist.
A Stedelijk Museum Cahier with an introduction by Rudi Fuchs will appear to accompany the exhibition (14,00 euro bilingual Dutch/English).
An article on Tracey Emin by Sarah Kent appeared in the Stedelijk Museum Bulletin, Nr. 5, 2002 (3,00 euro Dutch/English)
Emin has since then achieved an unprecedented star status in England, but in other countries too the influence of her art practice on other artists is beyond question. Included in the exhibition in the Stedelijk will be a number of neon works, one of which was acquired by the Museum recently: You Forgot to Kiss my Soul. In addition to neons, sculptures and installations, text quilts and a part of a Wall of memorabilia will be on exhibition, and there are installation-like sculptures and video projections, as well as small, modest works on paper. Because of the retrospective character, Emin will not be producing any works or performances especially for this show.
A Stedelijk Museum Cahier will accompany the exhibition.
Image:
Tracey Emin
I've got it all, 2000
Stedelijk Museum
Paulus Potterstraat 13 1070 AB Amsterdam
tel 31 20 5732911
fax 31 20 5732789