Body & Soul2 mins ago
Tracy Emin at the Hayward Gallery, has anyone else seen this exhibition?
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If any one has been to this exhibition, what did you think about it? Almost all reviews were positive, indeed the Telegraph critic gave it five stars. I'm not convinced of the worth/hype/ of Emin's "work" but felt I'd like to see what it's all about having seen bits and pieces of Emin's stuff at other galleries and exhibitions.
I still don't get it, but perhaps someone can show me what I'm missing?
I still don't get it, but perhaps someone can show me what I'm missing?
Answers
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I haven't seen it either so can't give an opinion other than to say I feel rather the same about her work as you do and remain to be convinced. Your thread hasn't been up for long but it's in the right thread so you might get some comments throughout the day. I did like her tiny bird statues in Manchester or was it Liverpool.
While no great art lover, I have always felt her work is a case of "emporers new clothes", everyone is afraid to point out most of her so called "art" is a load of crap (literally sometimes).
She is the classic example of how gullible people are in the art world.
As an example, a year or so back I went to the Tate Modern in London.
In one small gallery they had the decorators in, with trestle tables, paint pots, paint brushes, left over sandwiches, ash trays and other stuff decorators leave lying around.
Then I saw a steward sitting in the corner, and realised that in fact the decorators layout I had seen lying around WAS THE ART ITSELF.
What made this "art" any more than going into a room where REAL decorators WERE in, or was it purely because the people who put it together were "artists" so it made it art.
I remember a phone-in on the radio a few years ago discussing "modern art" and they had an expert in the studio talking about it.
A person phoned in and said much "modern art" was a con, and the caller said suppose he piled up 40 bricks into a pile and called it art, would it be art.
And the expert in the studio said to the caller "No, because you are not an artist" and I thought that just sums it up.
So if Damien Hurst cut a sheep in half it is art, if the butcher down the road cuts a sheep in half it is not.
How ridiculous. Art should be a REAL talent that makes that person stand out from the rest of us, not just someone who calls themselves an "artiist".
Being able to create this statue below is what being an artist is all about, as most of us could not do it, not just putting your bed in an art gallery and calling it "art"
http://www.digital-im...eta_StPeters_7772.jpg
She is the classic example of how gullible people are in the art world.
As an example, a year or so back I went to the Tate Modern in London.
In one small gallery they had the decorators in, with trestle tables, paint pots, paint brushes, left over sandwiches, ash trays and other stuff decorators leave lying around.
Then I saw a steward sitting in the corner, and realised that in fact the decorators layout I had seen lying around WAS THE ART ITSELF.
What made this "art" any more than going into a room where REAL decorators WERE in, or was it purely because the people who put it together were "artists" so it made it art.
I remember a phone-in on the radio a few years ago discussing "modern art" and they had an expert in the studio talking about it.
A person phoned in and said much "modern art" was a con, and the caller said suppose he piled up 40 bricks into a pile and called it art, would it be art.
And the expert in the studio said to the caller "No, because you are not an artist" and I thought that just sums it up.
So if Damien Hurst cut a sheep in half it is art, if the butcher down the road cuts a sheep in half it is not.
How ridiculous. Art should be a REAL talent that makes that person stand out from the rest of us, not just someone who calls themselves an "artiist".
Being able to create this statue below is what being an artist is all about, as most of us could not do it, not just putting your bed in an art gallery and calling it "art"
http://www.digital-im...eta_StPeters_7772.jpg
I was looking forward to seeing some of the quilts that form part of her most famous stuff, as I hadn't seen any in the flesh. Oh dear, I was utterly disappointed in the style, execution and sheer shoddiness of each and everyone. Obviously you are either in the "tent" and subscribe to the notion that this the best of British modern art, or you are not in it and I am one of the latter. Ladybirder and VHG, I didn't come away with the perception of having seen anything that I liked at all, but I think I needed to satisfy my curiosity in case there was something that I could appreciate, but I'm still looking, hopefully for free and not £11 that our Tracy cost me this time!
"So if Damien Hurst cut a sheep in half it is art, if the butcher down the road cuts a sheep in half it is not."
Not exactly. Hirst doesn't cut sheep in half, he gets butchers to do it for him.
But Hirst and Emin also produce graphic images, so it seems to me they're entitled to call themselves artists. If you don't like their work, fine; I don't like Tintoretto's work, but everyone seems happy to call him an artist. But I don't go to see his works in galleries, and if other people choose not to see Emin's work, that's their right too.
Not exactly. Hirst doesn't cut sheep in half, he gets butchers to do it for him.
But Hirst and Emin also produce graphic images, so it seems to me they're entitled to call themselves artists. If you don't like their work, fine; I don't like Tintoretto's work, but everyone seems happy to call him an artist. But I don't go to see his works in galleries, and if other people choose not to see Emin's work, that's their right too.
I recently sailed home from New York on the Queen Mary 2, and the present Mrs Hughes and I enjoyed the company of an American couple - the lady has sculputres exhibited in international galleries, and the gentleman is a fine art gallery owner, so they know what they are taking about.
They both confirmed that the skill of people like Emin and Hirst is not the work itself, but the ability to build a reputation based on the premise that the work is 'art'.
So the nature of art is, as ever, subjective, but the ability to convince critics and seriously rich buyers that your art is worth millions of pounds is the concept behind the fame of these two - and other artists.
As someone who has singularly failed to see anyn appeal in Emin's work, or in Hirst's, except the diamond skull - i felt my views were vindicated by the opinions of people who make eight-figure salaries by knowing this simple fact.
They both confirmed that the skill of people like Emin and Hirst is not the work itself, but the ability to build a reputation based on the premise that the work is 'art'.
So the nature of art is, as ever, subjective, but the ability to convince critics and seriously rich buyers that your art is worth millions of pounds is the concept behind the fame of these two - and other artists.
As someone who has singularly failed to see anyn appeal in Emin's work, or in Hirst's, except the diamond skull - i felt my views were vindicated by the opinions of people who make eight-figure salaries by knowing this simple fact.
nothing actually new in this, andy - if a Rembrandt worth millions turns out to have been painted by one of his pupils (there have been a lot of such re-attributions), then it will only be worth thousands. Even though the painting is just as good as it was yesterday it's 'worth' less. People pay for the name - and that's been going on a long time - probably since an 'art market' came into being.
She must be the biggest con artist of all time..but what i do not understand is why everybody goes along with her..just to make themselves look arty...as for art..yesterday I was looking at an artist's work that isn't shouted over the rooftops(Samuel Luke Fildes) now there is an artist..not some idiot like Emin...if i had plenty of cash I know which piece of art I would like confronting me every morning when I awoke.
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