30 days day 17 - an art piece

17. An art piece

Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 - Tracey Emin

For this I’m going to choose the slightly controversial piece, the much talked about Tent by Tracey Emin.

Unfortunately this piece no longer exists as it was destroyed in a fire. Some newspapers claimed that because they could ‘replace’ it for £39.99, that meant that it wasn’t art. They are completely missing the point!

Let’s just reiterate that the word ‘Slept’ in the title of this work really does mean ‘slept’.

I know that I would not be willing to make a work like this. For a start, I wouldn’t want to remember every single person I’ve slept with (plus, if I’m honest, there are some people I have slept with that I don’t remember their name – bad?), and I certainly wouldn’t be brave enough to write them all down and display them in a public forum for everyone to look at and climb inside.

I hate that people jump all over art works that aren’t ‘pretty pictures’ – an artist isn’t just a good draftsman, a skilled painter, a talent behind a lens, or a whizz with a sculpting tool. An artist has to have Good Ideas. Yes the work should be skilfully made – you should be able to see the time and effort put into it. But it needs to put an idea into the world, something that needs exploring or expressing.

No we don’t care who Ms. Emin has shagged, that’s not the point. This work was never about titillation. For a start, some of the names in the tent are aborted foetuses. She could have just written the names on piece of lined paper with a biro. She could have painted them eloquently with oil paint. But she did neither of these things. Would the newspapers have preferred this work if it was on a six foot canvas? Would they have still slated it because it’s the content they don’t like?

She Chose to put the names into a tent. This serves a few purposes. For example, a tent is a symbol of sleep – it is it’s primary function, to sleep in. Second, you can climb into it, and it only fits one person. This means the experience is intimate - just like sleeping with someone, and it is as if you are the only person allowed to read these names. Another thing is while reading fairly anonymous names of the memories of a stranger, your mind will wander to the people You have slept with, encouraging audience participation which makes the work different for every viewer – Every good art piece should have this!

This is not just a list of names, somehow the artist has made this work more than the sum of its parts. That is the mark of a great artist.

I wish I’d have got the opportunity to see it in person.