Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Make sense, not art

I like to believe in the power of words to make sense of things. Don't we all? For if they bore no consequence, why would Blair be troubled by what he calls the 'war in error' these days? Oops sorry, but see what I mean? Precision of usage can change everything.

Which brings me to today's topic: what in the devil is Tracy Emin on about now? As of last Friday, the heart of London's Southbank boasts her latest shock n'awe image: swimming sperm on a (21 ft by 15 ft) flag that reads, "One Secret is to Save Everything."

Hayward Gallery director, Ralph Rugoff, praised Emin's "precise sense of paradox and ambiguity in subverting what might be a reassuring formula for happiness." Now maybe I am just not artistic or spiritual enough, but is this guy or Emin's piece trying to suggest that saving sperm is the key to happiness? Surely, Monica's famous blew (sorry blue) dress proved otherwise?

But maybe we should be grateful for any lack of sense. Sometimes the less direct the better.

As the second in a series of artworks commissioned by the Southbank Centre, Tracey Emin's flag is at Jubilee Gardens until 31st July.

17 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can i just say i hate tracey emin?

6:15 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why exactly? And how? Personally? Professionally?

6:16 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also hate Tracey Emin. She claims she was date-raped when she was 13. Why doesn't she just admit she was a dirty little whore who wanted sex then created the rape story when the rest of her pretentious, arty-farty friends were also inventing victimisation stories to try and give themselves more street cred. Spoilt bitch should be forced to live in a slum in the outskirts of Rio De Janeiro for a couple of years to find out what REALhardship is. She’d won't have time to sit around wallowing in self-pity there.

6:17 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also hate Tracey Emin, she has all the wit, charm, intelligence, character and appeal of a stool sample. I think this is a very good example to show what sort of a person she is. The fact that she would scam a school out of £35,000 just to be snide and for her own self-absorbed, egotistical reasons is deplorable. I am an art student and have studied her and many other YBA's and can say that I have found nothing I like about her or any of her work. 'deface some of Tracy Emin's work or ever better: Tracey Emin' is on my list of things to do before I die.

6:19 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

She is a whore? What will the tourists think of this rubbish?

6:34 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Has London gone mad? What is doing with that statue at Canary Wharf? A triple dildo??!

7:21 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

she scares me....

6:38 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hard to believe such a phallic symbol is needed at Canary Wharf where there are so many men already touting one

6:38 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hard to believe such a phallic symbol is needed at Canary Wharf where there are so many men already touting one

6:39 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hard to believe such a phallic symbol is needed at Canary Wharf where there are so many men already touting one

6:39 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hard to believe such a phallic symbol is needed at Canary Wharf where there are so many men already touting one

6:39 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hard to believe such a phallic symbol is needed at Canary Wharf where there are so many men already touting one

6:39 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Save everything eh? Hate to tell Tracey but my Dad was doing this in his shed many, many years ago ...

7:05 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Indeed - woaw what a message! Stupid woman. Come to my house and tell my kids to save everything. Bugger off

8:12 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Indeed - woaw what a message! Stupid woman. Come to my house and tell my kids to save everything. Bugger off

8:12 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tracey Emin and every one of the young british artists rarely produce anything that could actually be classified as art I am afraid. They are rubbish, the lot of them. They are stuck in the 90s perception of their talent which was misguided from the start.

This is an embarassment!

9:29 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

she is a whore all right

4:18 pm  

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