Take what the fuck you like, 2001

Dolly, 2002

 

When art and life mix and thrive from their reciprocity to the point at which they become blurred together, the boundary that separates them becomes difficult to understand and easy to cross. Thus in viewing in the works by Tracey Emin (London, England, 1963), we are not satisfied with their purely formal aspect but, like self-conscious voyeurs, we futilely attempt to understand where the person ends and the artist begins. Yet while Emin’s sources—both in terms of subject and technique—can be found among the masters of Expressionism, such as Edward Munch and Egon Schiele, we should also not be surprised that it is precisely from the depths of the soul and its lacerations that these sometimes blatantly provocative works arise, but that they contain all the violence and desperation of present-day society. Using various media, some of which are traditionally feminine, such as embroidery, Emin tells a story—her own—by using her body and words, in painted, embroidered, or neon form, or simply evoked. In Take What the Fuck You Like, 2001, the crude verbal expression is emphasized by the contrast with the work’s disarming graphic simplicity..