Tracey Emin

Talk of the town and country is of the 20 year retrospective of Tracey Emin's work at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. It just opened and although she represented the UK at the Venice Biennale last year in 2007 this is her first retrospective in Britain.
I have not yet been to see the show/exhibition but I will when I go to Edinburgh next because I actually want to go and see the Richard Hamilton show that is up and the new Ingleby Gallery space. 3 birds in one trip and also of course I don't want to miss the Fruitmarket Gallery which cannot be missed. There is usually something good on there too.
Tracey Emin has a reputation as being a controversial artist and being the bad girl of contemporary British art etc. I see someone who wants attention desperately and at any price.
Many people do know her name and some of her so called seminal pieces like Her Bed that was up for the Turner Prize many moons ago. She is often in the press/media and in this way she has accomplished fame for however long it lasts but as for the work and it lasting. That is the question. Is it very much of the zeitgeist? Yes I would say so. YBA is about the zeitgeist.
Personally the work that I respond to is that of Louise Bourgeois for example if I want to see art about personal history and psychology. Annette Messager or Christian Boltanski. Sophie Calle is also interesting but the artists I have mentioned here are of older generations than Tracey Emin and so am I.
The zeitgeist issue then becomes apparent.
I will post images of some of her work here and please write any responses you may have!

Les enerves de Jumieges

This painting we found in the Musee des Beaux Arts in Rouen painted in 1880 based on a story. Enerves means irritated or angry.

Jumieges

Whilst having a quintessential French lunch outdoors under a yellow canope delicious food and good company in the countryside, we were recommended by our host to go and visit the Abbaye of Jumieges in the Seine valley nearby. It was his favourite.
So we set off and took this very quaint ferry across the river and then spent a long afternoon enjoying Jumieges.

Bayeux

Like Giverny and Etretat I had wanted to visit the Bayeux tapestry for as long as I can remember. As a young girl I read copiously during the summer months especially and then read a great deal of not only history, fiction, and art history but I was especially interested in European history and culture and therefore knew about a great many places I would wish to visit very very much. Bayeux was one if them.
This past summer I was finally able to and left Bayeux feeling as though I must return again and again. Hopefully I shall.
It takes a great deal of time to take it all in and as you are shuffled through almost as though you were at a blockbuster exhibition in a great museum and everyone wears earphones and that sets a certain pace, you can not easily go against the flow or even with it for that matter. I did not wear earphones because I really wanted to look and see for myself what was there. What I had not expected and what amazed me the most was how ANIMATED the figures were. It was alive and practically moving. There was also a great deal of humour in the depictions and scenes. I will show you above what I found . DO GO IF YOU CAN! Read up on it before so that you do not need the earphones and go early in the day if you can.
As a predecessor to comics and animation it is high up there for inspiration! Highly recommended to my friend Lamar!

Giverny

Claude Monet

Claude Monet


Claude Monet


This year I have been lucky enough to not only be able to visit the Alhambra in Granada and its magnificent garden but also Monet's Giverny. Both are places I have longed to see for more than twenty years at least!
We went to stay with a friend in Giverny and visited the garden out of hours and also in the dark evening with only the scent and sound to tell us about where we actually were. Completely magical and otherworldly. An unforgettable experience, one of the highlights certainly in my life.
Living in Europe again after such a long sojourn in the States has made it possible for me to visit more places here and for that I am truly happy despite missing my friends and life in the US.

Etretat

Matthew Alexander

Gustave Courbet

Claude Monet



We just returned from a trip to France and we finally visited Etretat. I have mentioned it before here on DJANG. Quite an extraordinary coast that Normandie-Maritime. White cliffs and coves for miles and miles. Then a dramatic carving by the sea culminating in Etretat. Sea art or land art?
So many artists have been inspired to record the place for themselves; Monet of course, but also Courbet and more recently ones like Matthew Alexander.
I hope you get to visit some day yourself.
This trip included several longstanding wishes for visits. Places I have wanted to see since my youth or childhood. Will get to them later though.

More from Lamar

Last spring Lamar Peterson had a show at the Richard Heller Gallery in Los Angeles. These images represent some of his new work shown there. If you look at earlier postings on DJANG you can see some of his previous work.
For more look up www.richardhellergallery.com or www.fredericksfreisergallery.com
What do you think?