National Galleries of Scotland, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art – Tracey Emin: 20 Years
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 75 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DR. 0131 624 6200Tracey Emin: 20 Years
Tracey Emin is one of the most celebrated artists of her generation, yet remarkably this is the first retrospective exhibition of her work to be held in the UK. Born in London in 1963, she grew up in the Kent seaside resort town of Margate and studied at the Royal College of Art in London from 1987 to 1989. Emin’s work draws directly upon her personal experiences, and often refers to traumatic episodes in her early life: her sexually promiscuous adolescence; a failed suicide attempt. Her first solo exhibition, My Major Retrospective, held at the White Cube Gallery in London in 1993, featured embroidered blankets, letters, mementos and photographs relating to such experiences. Emin’s great achievement is to have drawn upon her background in a manner that is neither tragic nor sentimental. This retrospective at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art occupies the entire ground floor of the gallery and features work dating from 1993 to the present day. It includes embroidered textiles, paintings, drawings, early unpublished prints, installations, photographs, sculptures, neon works and new work made specifically for the exhibition.