The more I see of Tracey Emin and her work, the more I admire her. Her art, yes, but also her commitment to the future of art in this country.
This solo exhibition titled I followed you till the end was at White Cube Bermondsey which I visited a couple of times.
Emin paints with acrylics yet the feeling is of oils – there’s something about the translucency of colour and the wetness of it – all those drips.
I went to a talk she gave in the gallery where she recounted that her cats launch themselves onto the back of canvases and bounce off them as a game, the vibration adding to the scattering of drips. I like that image of their energy contributing to the painting.
Writing has always formed part of her practice and many of the pieces include it here.
If she isn’t convinced by something she will paint over it with white, leaving a ghostly shadow, a hazy memory of what was there before.
My Dead Body – A Trace of Life shares the same horizon line. While her head and part of her body is below the horizon (underground?), the other half is above. The paint drips upwards while those on the left flow down. I like to think she’s emerging after having sunk down though the opposite could also be true.
The only two bronze sculptures on display had the texture and energy of some of Rodin’s nudes.
