Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin was born in London in 1963, where she continues to live and work. Her art is known for being intricately linked to her biography. Firmly believing that having secrets is a dangerous thing, the artist opens to the world the Pandora's box of her emotions. Her honesty is disarming: what may seem like gratuitous exhibitionism is merely an attempt to understand and come to terms with the traumatic events that have marked her life.

“In 1992, I enrolled in a philosophy course that made me understand many things about contemporary art, whereas before, all I could imagine were Edvard Munch and Byzantine frescoes, Giotto, and the early Renaissance. My mind had stopped working. There was nothing artistic that could fill it, but after the philosophy course, a great space opened in my mind that I had never explored before, and I realized that anything could be art. It is about the conviction inherent in what you do; it is the essence of your journey, so it is more like a conceptual idea, even if my works do not appear conceptual. I don’t believe it makes sense to do something that has already been done. If you have a message to convey and want to be heard, you must find a way to communicate that engages the audience, and for me, it wouldn’t have been worth it if I had done something that had already been done fifty times. I had to come to terms with my failure as an artist. The artist I was trying to be was the traditional one, in which I truly failed. I had to find my own path. So, I speak of personal experience... the greatest influence in my life is my life itself, not what I do daily, but what makes sense to me in the world. Because what your work becomes, whether you like it or not, is the celebration of your personality, due to your autobiographical center and its pursuit.”

In the collection of Giuseppe Iannaccone, there are two works created by Tracey Emin, differing in technique and theme. In Suicide, a small drawing from 1999, a strong emotional component emerges from swift and twisted lines that outline a naked figure whose face has been violently erased, reflecting the brutal and self-inflicted death of the protagonist. The second work, I’ve Got it All (2000), is a large Polaroid depicting Tracey Emin with her legs apart, pushing money towards her genitals. Once again, she uses her life as a catalyst for her art, drawing attention to her difficult situation in which sex, success, and money go hand in hand. The original dimensions of a Polaroid were likely insufficient to emphasize the concept encapsulated in the title of the work; hence, the image is disproportionate to create an impact.

“I am wearing a high-fashion dress designed by Vivienne Westwood specifically for me, and I have all these foreign coins spilling out between my legs. This work is about fertility and states that even though I seemed to have everything, I had nothing at all. All the things you think success starts to bring... I have not experienced them.”