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Monday, May 28, 2012



THE VERY LAST RESORT..

Tracey Emin`s been in the news again.   This time she`s making an exhibition of herself in her home town of Margate where, in the Turner Contemporary - the art gallery she opened a year ago - she has an exhibition of `new work.`   She Lay Down Deep Beneath the Sea is her first exhibition there and has been `conceived especially for the town.`


The Director of the Turner Contemporary, one Victoria Pomery, said that most of the work had been produced by Emin in the last eight months and was completely unseen.   So, now we know.   Most of the stuff on show has been knocked up in quick time and if the example shown above is anything to go by, I`m not surprised and it shows.   Where`s a three year old when you need one?


Of course, the art luvvies will love it, as it is a prime example of a load of complete tat masquerading as something deeply meaningful and will thus doubtless fetch a good price among those with more money than sense.   It`s just the latest in a career that has seen Emin produce endless streams of rubbish by which she has amassed an indecent fortune and a  reputation as a `character,` a `personality,` even a `celebrity.`   And all achieved with a charmless persona which of itself could do well in the Turner Prize, for which Emin was astonishingly nominated some time ago.


And now to add insult to injury we learn that Emin is to carry the Olympic Torch through the streets of her beloved Margate, presumably on the basis that she might be the town`s best known product.   Although, in fairness, there is something artistic, almost touching, in the twin imitations of Emin, with her modest skills, and The Torch, with its trumpeted pointlessness, coming together in what must surely be the last resort on the Kent coast.

1 comment:

Snopper said...

Many thanks, Ray - good to hear from you. I`m also sure that your eminent predecessor would have been as astonished as me to learn that Emin is Professor of Drawing at the Royal Academy!!!

JMW was light years ahead of his time, of course and it`s a frightening prospect that Emin might be the same.....although I would hate to be in a world where her `work` is revered more than, say, David Inshaw or Rowland Hilder.