Gransnet forums

Arts & crafts

Like this work by Tracy Emin?

(89 Posts)
Wyllow3 Sat 24-Jun-23 19:58:30

Doors of the re-vamped national Portrait Gallery.

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jun/21/doors-tracey-emin-national-portrait-gallerys-41m-rebirth

Pix and comments on changes in the National Portrait Gallery.

Slashed stone, daylight galore and doors by Tracey Emin: the National Portrait Gallery’s £41m rebirth
Forty-five faces of women, scribbled by Emin, now beam out from bronze doors – all part of an astonishing revamp that has turned this once unloved London landmark into a great building

“‘A foil to the row of 14 white male painters who look down, stony-faced, from above’ … Emin’s doors featuring 45 portraits that ‘represent every woman’
National Portrait Gallery

For me, its a total “like” - women of all ages and cultural backgrounds under the original Great Artists at a time when women were predominantly not just the muse or object of art, but beauty defined as young.

My big grump is of course the London-centric placing- I hope tho to find more close ups of the panels.

My other big grump of course is that Emin drew on the work of some of us producing alternative and controversial images of women in the 1970’s that didn’t match the stereotypes but she hasn’t ever acknowledged this body of work - nor the work of women like Käthe Kollwitz earlier in the century - but things are what they are and glad to see this work, and anyway artists have always drawn on a history of art and worked within it.

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jun/21/doors-tracey-emin-national-portrait-gallerys-41m-rebirth

Pix and comments on changes in the National Portrait Gallery.

Slashed stone, daylight galore and doors by Tracey Emin: the National Portrait Gallery’s £41m rebirth
Forty-five faces of women, scribbled by Emin, now beam out from bronze doors – all part of an astonishing revamp that has turned this once unloved London landmark into a great building

“‘A foil to the row of 14 white male painters who look down, stony-faced, from above’ … Emin’s doors featuring 45 portraits that ‘represent every woman’
National Portrait Gallery

For me, its a total “like” - women of all ages and cultural backgrounds under the original Great Artists at a time when women were predominantly not just the muse or object of art, but beauty defined as young.

My big grump is of course the London-centric placing- I hope tho to find more close ups of the panels.

My other big grump of course is that Emin drew on the work of some of us producing alternative and controversial images of women in the 1970’s that didn’t match the stereotypes but she hasn’t ever acknowledged this body of work - but things are what they are and glad to see this work, and anyway artists have always drawn on a history of art and worked within it.

Pix - official opening of new gallery
Pix by Kathy Kollwitz
1970's by Judy Chicago

sassysaysso Mon 26-Jun-23 11:58:08

@pascal30 I agree with what you say but when you say Grayson Perry is popular, do you mean his art or his media personality? I can’t think of another artist who has such a high profile on TV and other media (though I’m expecting to be corrected there!): is his popularity another result of the HIGNFY effect - look what it did for Johnson.

pascal30 Mon 26-Jun-23 12:07:55

sassysaysso

@pascal30 I agree with what you say but when you say Grayson Perry is popular, do you mean his art or his media personality? I can’t think of another artist who has such a high profile on TV and other media (though I’m expecting to be corrected there!): is his popularity another result of the HIGNFY effect - look what it did for Johnson.

Well it is just my personal opinion... but I think his tapestries and pots are really interesting and beautiful, and throuhg his all encompassing subject matter for them he has also brought it into the public domain by allowing everyone to feel they can also be artists.. I don't think he'll exploit his popularity..

sassysaysso Mon 26-Jun-23 12:19:34

pascal30

sassysaysso

@pascal30 I agree with what you say but when you say Grayson Perry is popular, do you mean his art or his media personality? I can’t think of another artist who has such a high profile on TV and other media (though I’m expecting to be corrected there!): is his popularity another result of the HIGNFY effect - look what it did for Johnson.

Well it is just my personal opinion... but I think his tapestries and pots are really interesting and beautiful, and throuhg his all encompassing subject matter for them he has also brought it into the public domain by allowing everyone to feel they can also be artists.. I don't think he'll exploit his popularity..

Is it though his art or his media personality that is popular? I have a feeling it is his likeable media presence that largely influences perceptions about his art.

pascal30 Mon 26-Jun-23 12:22:54

sassysaysso

pascal30

sassysaysso

@pascal30 I agree with what you say but when you say Grayson Perry is popular, do you mean his art or his media personality? I can’t think of another artist who has such a high profile on TV and other media (though I’m expecting to be corrected there!): is his popularity another result of the HIGNFY effect - look what it did for Johnson.

Well it is just my personal opinion... but I think his tapestries and pots are really interesting and beautiful, and throuhg his all encompassing subject matter for them he has also brought it into the public domain by allowing everyone to feel they can also be artists.. I don't think he'll exploit his popularity..

Is it though his art or his media personality that is popular? I have a feeling it is his likeable media presence that largely influences perceptions about his art.

He was thought to be a significant artist before he started his TV documentaries etc but I guess one fed into the other..

missdeke Mon 26-Jun-23 12:55:36

Not a fan of Emin, but must admit it's an improvement on 'the bed'.

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 26-Jun-23 13:12:54

I know nothing about art beyond what I like and what I don’t. I don’t pretend otherwise. Emin falls into the latter camp. Can someone please explain what is clever about her?

Anniebach Mon 26-Jun-23 14:21:50

No, i don’t like it

Maggiemaybe Mon 26-Jun-23 15:04:56

I’ve always admired Tracy Emin and her work. Both of them are honest, brave, raw, and visceral imho. One of my daughters is an artist, and some of the stuff she admires just leaves me cold. But I don’t think there’s a qualification anywhere that entitles anyone to say that the work of an established and acclaimed artist is rubbish, even if they hate it - it’s all just down to personal taste, surely?

I do like the work from the images, but I’d love to see the doors up close. I hope they’re taken on tour at some stage.

welbeck Mon 26-Jun-23 15:28:44

agree with Maggiemaybe

suelld Mon 26-Jun-23 23:15:29

Concept - great.
Execution - pretty abysmal .
We have far better artists than her!
Why oh why use her !

suelld Mon 26-Jun-23 23:17:54

Not to mention the money spent - there’s art and there’s art!
I’m pretty eclectic in most things but Banksy would have made a better job than that

welbeck Mon 26-Jun-23 23:33:14

Speaking to The Sunday Times,
Emin said that her arrangement with the National Portrait Gallery was that she was not paid for the work,
but did enjoy total creative freedom.
The gallery only paid the production fees.
“It wasn't a commission,” she explained. “I did it for free."
19 Jun 2023

Amalegra Tue 27-Jun-23 01:38:04

No smiles in any of these depictions of women, as far as I can see! All look so serious, even angry. Is this what women are supposed to be? Not particularly impressed but there again, I am no expert in contemporary art so I will have to take it from others how wonderful these are!