name	Tracey Emin
birth name	Tracey Karima Emin
birth date	July 03, 1963
birth place	Croydon, Surrey, England
movement	Young British Artists
works	Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995, My Bed
awards	}}

Tracey Karima Emin RA (born 3 July 1963 in Croydon, Surrey) is an English artist and part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs (Young British Artists).

In 1997, her work ''Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995'', a tent appliquéd with names, was shown at Charles Saatchi's ''Sensation'' exhibition held at the Royal Academy in London. The same year, she gained considerable media exposure when she appeared drunk and swearing on a live Channel 4 TV discussion. In 1999, she was a Turner Prize nominee and exhibited ''My Bed'' — an installation, consisting of her own unmade dirty bed with used condoms and blood-stained underwear. There has been an ongoing dispute with former boyfriend, artist Billy Childish, particularly over the Stuckism movement, founded in 1999 and named after an insult by her.

In 2004, her tent artwork was destroyed in the Momart warehouse fire. In March 2007, Emin was chosen to join the Royal Academy of Arts in London as a Royal Academician. She represented Britain at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Her first major retrospective ''20 Years'' was held in Edinburgh 2008, and toured Europe until 2009.

Tracey opened the Turner Contemporary art gallery in Margate with Jools Holland in April 2011. She has been a major supporter of the project from its inception and it has been suggested she will exhibit there in the future. In May 2011, Emin's largest major solo exhibition in a public space was held at Hayward Gallery, London titled ''Love Is What You Want''.

Emin is a panelist and speaker: she has lectured at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney (2010), the Royal Academy of Arts (2008), and the Tate Britain in London (2005) about the links between creativity and autobiography, and the role of subjectivity and personal histories in constructing art. Emin's art takes many different forms of expression including needlework and sculpture, drawing, video and installation, photography and painting.

Life

Early life

Tracey Emin was born in Croydon and brought up in Margate. She has a twin brother. Emin's father, a Turkish Cypriot, was married to a woman other than her mother and divided his time between his two families. He owned the Hotel International in Margate, and, when the business failed, Emin's family suffered a severe decline in their standard of living, circumstances which have featured in a number of works. Around the age of 13 she was raped. In a "loosely autobiographical" film to be made of this event she only asked, in true documentary fashion, that "The extras will all come from Margate and I'll hire a church hall there to hold auditions. I'll ask each of the girls: 'What is it you really hate about your mum?'" At 18 she was pregnant with twins but had an abortion because she was scared of what her parents would think.

She studied fashion at Medway College of Design (1980–1982), where she met expelled student Billy Childish and was associated with The Medway Poets. Emin and Childish were a couple until 1987 during which time she was the administrator for his small press Hangman Books which specialized in publishing Childish's confessional poetry. In 1984 she studied printing at Maidstone Art College, which she has described as one of the best experiences of her life. In 1995, she was interviewed in the ''Minky Manky'' show catalogue by Carl Freedman, who asked her, "Which person do you think has had the greatest influence on your life?" She replied, In 1987, Emin moved to London to study at the Royal College of Art, where she obtained an MA in painting, though she has described this time as a very negative experience. Her influences included Edvard Munch and Egon Schiele; later she destroyed all her paintings from this early period, and for a time studied philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London. One of the paintings that survives from her time at Royal College of Art is Friendship which is in the Royal College of Art Collection.

Britartist

In 1993, Emin opened a shop with fellow artist Sarah Lucas, called simply ''The Shop'' at 103 Bethnal Green Road in Bethnal Green. This sold works by the two of them, including T-shirts and ash trays with Damien Hirst's picture stuck to the bottom. Lucas paid Emin a wage to mind the shop and Emin also made extra money by writing letters to people asking them to invest £20 in her as an artist, one being Jay Jopling, who became her dealer. During this period Emin was also working with the gallerist Joshua Compston.

In 1994, she had her first solo show at the White Cube gallery, a leading contemporary art gallery in London. It was called ''My Major Retrospective'', and was what is now seen as typically autobiographical in her work, consisting of personal photographs, and photos of her (destroyed) early paintings, as well as items which most artists would not consider showing in public, such as a packet of cigarettes her uncle was holding when he was decapitated in a car crash. This willingness to show details of what would generally be thought of as her private life has become one of Emin's trademarks.

In the mid-1990s she had a relationship with Carl Freedman, who had been an early friend of, and collaborator with, Damien Hirst and who had co-curated seminal Britart shows, such as ''Modern Medicine'' and ''Gambler''. In 1994, they toured the US together, driving in a Cadillac from San Francisco to New York, and making stops en route where she gave readings from her autobiographical book ''Exploration of the Soul'' to finance the trip. En route they "belly surfed" in San Diego and watched bears in Big Sur.

The couple also spent time by the sea in Whitstable together, using the beach hut, which she uprooted and turned into art in 1999 with the title ''The Last Thing I Said to You is Don't Leave Me Here'', and which was destroyed in the 2004 Momart warehouse fire.

In 1995, Freedman curated the show ''Minky Manky'' at the South London Gallery. Emin has said, The result was Emin's famous "tent" ''Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995'', which was first exhibited in the show. It was a blue tent, appliquéd with the names of everyone she has slept with. These included sexual partners, plus relatives she slept with as a child, her twin brother, and her two aborted children. Although often talked about as a shameless exhibition of her sexual conquests, it was rather a piece about intimacy in a more general sense, although the title invites misinterpretation. The needlework which is integral to this work was used by Emin in a number of her other pieces. This piece was later bought by Charles Saatchi and included in the successful 1997 Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy of London; it then toured to Berlin and New York. It, too, was destroyed by the fire in Saatchi's east London warehouse, in 2004.

Freedman's interview with her appears in the catalogue. Other featured artists were Sarah Lucas, Gary Hume, Damien Hirst, Mat Collishaw, Gilbert & George, Critical Décor and Steven Pippin. Emin now describes Freedman as "one of my best friends".

Emin lives in Spitalfields, East London on Fournier Street in a Georgian Huguenot silk weavers house which dates from 1726.

Fame

Although these early events caused Emin to be well known in art circles, she was largely unknown by the public until she appeared on a Channel 4 television programme in 1997. It was an ostensibly serious debate show about that year's Turner Prize, and Emin appeared completely drunk (she has said this was caused by painkillers she was taking for a broken finger), swearing, insulting the other panel members and saying that she wanted to go home to her mum (she then left). From the interview: "Are they really real people in England watching this programme now, they really watching, really watching it?... They're 25 minutes behind us, think about that" "I'm leaving now, I wanna be with my friends, I wanna be with my mum. I'm gonna phone her, and she's going to be embarrassed about this conversation, this is live and I don't care. I don't give a f*** about it." Two years later, in 1999, Emin was shortlisted for the Turner Prize herself and exhibited ''My Bed'' at the Tate Gallery. There was considerable media furore about this, particularly as the sheets of the bed were stained yellow, and the floor surrounding it had items from her room such as condoms, empty cigarette packets, a pair of knickers with menstrual stains and other detritus including a pair of slippers. The bed was presented as it had been when she had stayed in it for several days feeling suicidal because of relationship difficulties.

One lady came to the exhibition with cleaning materials and had to be stopped from tidying it up.

Two performance artists, Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi, jumped onto the bed with bare torsos in order to "improve" the work, which they thought had not gone far enough.

In July 1999, at the height of Emin's Turner Prize fame, the artist created a number of monoprint drawings inspired by the public and private life of Princess Diana for a themed exhibition called ''Temple of Diana'' held at The Blue Gallery, London. Works such as ''They Wanted You To Be Destroyed'' (1999) related to Princess Diana's bulimia eating disorder, while other monoprints included affectionate texts such as ''Love Was On Your Side'' and a description of Princess Diana's ''dress with puffy sleeves''. Other drawings highlighted ''The things you did to help other people'' written next to a drawing by Emin of Diana, Princess of Wales in protective clothing walking through a minefield in Angola. Another work was a delicate sketch of a rose drawn next to the phrase, ''It makes perfect sence to know they killed you'' (with Emin's trademark spelling mistakes) referring to the conspiracy theories surrounding Princess Diana's death. Emin herself described the drawings saying they "could be considered quite scrappy, fresh, kind of naive looking drawings" and "It's pretty difficult for me to do drawings not about me and about someone else. But I have did have a lot of ideas. They're quite sentimental I think and there's nothing cynical about it whatsoever."

International popstars Elton John and George Michael are both collectors of Emin's work, with Michael, and his partner Kenny Goss, holding the ''A Tribute To Tracey Emin'' exhibition in September 2007 at their Dallas based museum, the Goss-Michael Foundation (formerly Goss Gallery). This was the inaugural exhibition for the gallery which displayed a variety of Emin works from a large blanket, video installations, prints, paintings and a number of neon works including a special neon piece ''George Loves Kenny'' (2007) which was the centrepiece of the exhibition, developed by Emin after she wrote an article for The Independent newspaper in February 2007 with the same title. Michael and Goss own 25 works by Emin.

Other celebrities and musicians who support Emin's art include models Jerry Hall and Naomi Campbell, film star Orlando Bloom who bought a number of Emin's works at charity auctions and pop band Temposhark, whose lead singer collects Emin's art, named their debut album ''The Invisible Line'', inspired by passages from Emin's book ''Exploration of The Soul''. Rock legend Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones is a well documented friend of Emin and whose own paintings are inspired by Emin's work. In 2004, Emin presented Madonna with the ''UK Music Hall Of Fame'' award. Emin was invited to Madonna's country estate Ashcombe and has been described by the singer, "Tracey is intelligent and wounded and not afraid to expose herself," she says. "She is provocative but she has something to say. I can relate to that." David Bowie, a childhood inspiration of Emin's, also became friends with the artist, Bowie has described Emin as, ''William Blake as a woman, written by Mike Leigh''

Like the George Michael and Kenny Goss neon, Emin also created a unique neon work for her supermodel friend Kate Moss called ''Moss Kin''. In 2004, it was reported that this unique piece had been discovered dumped in a skip in east London. The piece, consisting of neon tubing spelling the words ''Moss Kin'', had been mistakenly thrown out of a basement, owned by the craftsman who made the glass. The artwork was never collected by Moss and had therefore been stored for three years in the basement of a specialist artist used by Emin in the Spitalfields area. It was accidentally dumped when the craftsman moved. The term used in the work ''Kin'' is a recurring theme of Emin's to describe those dear to her, her loved ones. Other examples can be seen in a monoprint called ''MatKin'' dedicated to her then boyfriend artist Mat Collishaw and released as an aquatint limited edition in 1997. Emin has also created a nude drawing of Kate Moss known as ''Kate'' (2000), signed and dated as ''1 February 2000'' in pencil by the artist. In 2006, the same image was released as a limited edition etching, but renamed as ''Kate Moss 2000'' (2006).

Work

Monoprints

Emin's monoprints are a well documented part of her creative output. These unique drawings represent a diaristic aspect and frequently depict events from the past for example, ''Poor Love'' (1999), ''From The Week Of Hell '94'' (1995) and ''Ripped Up'' (1995), which relate to a traumatic experience after an abortion or other personal events as seen in ''Fuck You Eddy'' (1995) and ''Sad Shower in New York'' (1995) which are both part of the Tate's collection of Emin's art.

Often they incorporate text as well as image, although some bear only text and others only image. The text appears as the artist's stream of consciousness voice. Some critics have compared Emin's text-only monoprints to ransom notes. The rapid, one-off technique involved in making monoprints is perfectly suited to (apparently) immediate expression, as is Emin's scratchy and informal drawing style. Emin frequently misspells words, deliberately or due to the speed at which she did each drawing. In a 2002 interview with Lynn Barber, Emin said,

Emin created a key series of monoprints in 1997 with the text ''Something's Wrong'' or ''There Must Be Something Terebley Wrong With Me'' [''sic''] written with spelling mistakes intact in large capital letters alongside "forlorn figures surrounded by space, their outlines fragile on the page. Some are complete bodies, others only female torsos, legs splayed and with odd, spidery flows gushing from their vaginas. They are all accompanied by the legend ''There's Something Wrong''."

Other key monoprints include a series from 1994 and 1995 known as the ''Illustrations from Memory'' series which document Tracey's childhood memories of sexual awakening and other experiences growing up in Margate such as ''Fucking Down An Ally 16/5/95'' (1995) and ''Illustrations from Memory, the year 1974. In The Livingroom'' (1994). Emin further produced a set of monoprints detailing her memories of Margate's iconic buildings such as ''Margate Harbour 16/5/95'' (1995), ''The Lido 16/5/95'' (1995) and ''Light House 15/5/95'' (1995). Other drawings from 1994 include the ''Family Suite'' series, part of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art collection, consisting of 20 monoprints with "archetypal themes in Emin's art: sex, her family, her abortions, and Margate". This series of monoprints will be displayed for the first time from August 2008 at the Edinburgh based gallery as part of her first major retrospective, which has been called the ''Summer Blockbuster'' exhibition. A further ''Family Suite II'' set was exhibited in Los Angeles in November 2007 as part of Emin's solo show at Gagosian gallery.

Emin's monoprints are rarely displayed alone in exhibitions, they're particularly effective as collective fragments of intense emotional confrontation. Emin has made several works documenting painful moments of sadness and loneliness experienced when travelling to foreign cities for various exhibitions such as ''Thinking Of You'' (2005) and ''Bath White I'' (2005) which were from a series of monoprints drawn directly onto the USA ''Mondrian'' hotel stationary. Emin herself has said,

In summer 2009, Emin along with book publisher Rizzoli will release a book titled ''One Thousand Drawings''. As the title suggests, the book will contain 1000 drawings of Emin's career since 1988. The book will be released to coincide with Emin's show ''Those who suffer love'' at White Cube which is mainly a drawings show. Emin said in a recent interview that "We actually looked at about 2000 drawings and then chose 1000 drawings [for the book]... I'd probably done, over that period of time about 4000 drawings".

Monoprint drawings of mothers and children that Emin drew during a pregnancy in 1990 were included in a 2010 joint exhibition with Paula Rego and Mat Collishaw at the Foundling Museum.

Painting

Emin displayed six small watercolours in her Turner Prize exhibition in 1999, and also in her New York show ''Every Part Of Me's Bleeding'' held that same year, known as the ''Berlin Watercolour'' series (1998). These delicate, washed out but colourful watercolours include four portraits of Emin's face and were all painted by Emin in Berlin during 1998, adapted from Polaroids of the artist taking a bath. Each unique painting from this series share the same title, ''Berlin The Last Week In April 1998''. Simon Wilson, spokesperson for the Tate, commented that Emin included the set of tiny Berlin watercolours "as a riposte to the accusation that there are no paintings" in the Turner Prize exhibitions. The bath theme seen in these watercolours was later revisited by Emin in her photographic work ''Sometimes I Feel Beautiful'' (2000) and in monoprints such as the ''Bath White'' (2005) series. With all these works, Emin explores a Mary Cassatt quality of the "woman in a private moment".

Emin's focus on painting has developed over the past few years, starting with the ''Purple Virgin'' (2004) acrylic watercolour series of purple brush strokes depicting her naked open legs, and leading to paintings such as ''Asleep Alone With Legs Open'' (2005), the ''Reincarnation'' (2005) series and ''Masturbating'' (2006) amongst others.

In May 2005, London's ''Evening Standard'' newspaper highlighted Emin's return to painting in their preview of her ''When I Think About Sex'' exhibition at White Cube. Other works were nude self-portrait drawings. Emin was quoted: "For this show I wanted to show that I can really draw, and I think they are really sexy drawings."

Work for her 2007 show at the Venice Biennale (see below) included large-scale canvases of her legs and vagina. A watercolour series called ''The Purple Virgins'' were displayed. There are ten ''Purple Virgin'' works in total, six of which were shown at the Biennale. These were accompanied by two canvases of a similar style called ''How I Think I Feel 1 and 2''.

The Venice Biennale was also the first time Emin's ''Abortion Watercolour'' series, painted in 1990, had ever been shown in public.

Jay Jopling uncovered a brand new Emin painting, ''Rose Virgin'' (2007), as part of White Cube's stand at the Frieze Art Fair in London's Regent's Park on 10 October 2007. More new paintings are expected to be shown in Emin's ''You Left Me Breathing'' exhibition in Los Angeles' Gagosian gallery from 2 November 2007, described in a recent interview as an 'exhibition of sculpture and painting'. A number of new paintings were on display including ''Get Ready For The Fuck Of Your Life'' (2007).

Photography

Emin has produced many photographic works throughout her career, including ''Monument Valley (Grand Scale)'' (1995–97) and ''Outside Myself (Monument Valley, reading ‘Exploration of the Soul’)'' (1995) which resulted "from a trip Emin made to the United States in 1994. She and her then boyfriend, the writer, curator and gallerist Carl Freedman, drove from San Francisco to New York stopping off along the way to give readings from her book, Exploration of the Soul 1994. The photograph shows the artist sitting in an upholstered chair in Monument Valley, a spectacular location on the southern border of Utah with northern Arizona, holding her book. Although it is open, it is not clear whether she is looking at the viewer or at the text in front of her. Emin gave her readings sitting in the chair, which she had inherited from her grandmother, which also became part of Emin's art, ''There's A Lot Of Money In Chairs'' (1994).

Other photographic works include a series of nine images comprising the work ''Naked Photos – Life Model Goes Mad'' (1996) documenting a painting performance Emin made in a room specially built in Galleri Andreas Brändström, Stockholm. Another photographic series, ''Trying On Clothes From My Friends (She Took The Shirt Off His Back)'' (1997), shows the artist trying on her friends’ clothes offering up questions of identity.

Other works such as ''I've Got It All'' (2000) show Emin with her "legs splayed on a red floor, clutching banknotes and coins to her crotch. Made at a time of public and financial success, the image connects the artist’s desire for money and success and her sexual desire (her role as consumer) with her use of her body and her emotional life to produce her art (the object of consumption)". Whilst ''Sometimes I Feel Beautiful'' (2000) pictures Emin lying alone in a bath. Both these works are examples of Emin using "large-scale photographs of herself to record and express moments of emotional significance in her life, frequently making reference to her career as an artist. The photographs have a staged quality, as though the artist is enacting a private ritual."

Emin's most iconic are the two self portraits taken inside her famous beach hut, ''The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here I'' (2000) and ''The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here II'' (2000). The latter two photographs are a diptych although they are often exhibited and sold separately. They depict a naked Emin on her knees inside her beach hut which she and friend Sarah Lucas had bought in Whitstable, Kent in 1992. The hut itself later became the sculpture ''The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here (The Hut)'' (1999). They are part of museum collections including Tate Modern, the Saatchi Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom) and have been mass produced as postcards sold in museum shops around the world.

Neon

Emin has also worked with neon lights. One such piece is ''You Forgot To Kiss My Soul'' (2001) which consists of those words in blue neon inside a neon heart-shape. Another neon piece is made from the words ''Is Anal Sex Legal'' (1998). to complement another ''Is Legal Sex Anal'' (1998) For the Venice Biennale, Emin produced a series of new purple neon works, for example, ''Legs I'' (2007). This 2007 series of ''Legs'' neon works were directly inspired by the ''Purple Virgin'' (2004) watercolour series. For example, ''Legs IV'' (2007) directly follows the watercolour lines of the ''Purple Virgin 9'' (2004). For a joint 2010 exhibition with Paula Rego and Mat Collishaw she decorated the front of the Foundling Museum with the neon words "Foundlings and fledglings are angels of this earth".

Emin has donated neon work to auction for charity and in 2007, her neon ''Keep Me Safe'' reached the highest price ever made for one of her neon works of over £60,000. A brand new neon piece called ''With You I Want To Live'' will be shown as part of Emin's ''You Left Me Breathing'' exhibition in November/December 2007 at the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles.

Fabric

Emin frequently works with fabric in the form of appliqués — material (often cut out into lettering) sewn onto other material. She collects fabric from curtains, bed sheets and linen and has done so for most of her life. She keeps such material that holds emotional significance for later use in her work. Many of her large scale appliqués are made on hotel linens, for example, ''It Always Hurts'' (2005), ''Sometimes I Feel So Fucking Lost'' (2005), ''Volcano Closed'' (2001) and ''Helter Fucking Skelter'' (2001). ''Hate And Power Can Be A Terrible Thing'' (2004), part of the Tate's collection of Emin's work, is a large scale blanket inspired in part by Margaret Thatcher due to her involvement in "an attack on 800 boys and men in the Argentinian navy" and other women for example women who steals their friends' boyfriends, Emin says of this work "about the kind of women I hate, the kind of women I have no respect for, women who betray and destroy the hearts of other women".

Emin's use of fabric is diverse, one of her most famous works came from sewing letters onto her grandmother's armchair in ''There's A Lot Of Money In Chairs'' (1994). The chair was very detailed, "including her and her twin brother’s names, the year of her grandmother’s birth (1901) and the year of her birth (1963) on either side of the words ‘''another world''’, referring to the passing of time. An exchange between the artist and her grandmother using the nicknames they had for each other: ‘''Ok Puddin, Thanks Plum''’, covers the bottom front of the chair and a saying of Emin’s grandmother’s, ‘''There’s a lot of money in chairs''’, is appliquéd in pink along the top and front of its back. Behind the chair back, the first page of Exploration of the Soul, handwritten onto fabric, is appliquéd together with other dictums such as, ‘''It’s not what you inherit. It’s what you do with your inheritance''’". Emin used the chair on a trip Emin made to the United States in 1994. Driving from San Francisco to New York stopping off along the way to give readings from her book, ''Exploration of the Soul'' (1994). Emin gave her readings sitting in the upholstered chair and "as she crossed the United States, the artist sewed the names of the places she visited – San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Monument Valley, Detroit, Pittsburgh, New York - onto the front of the chair". Emin also posed in the chair for two of her photographic works (see Photography) whilst in Monument Valley, in the Arizona Desert. It is currently on public display at Pallant House Gallery until 6 March 2011 as part of the exhibition, 'Contemporary Eye: Crossovers.'

Emin has made a large number of smaller scale works, often including hand sewn words and images, such as ''Falling Stars'' (2001), ''It Could Have Been Something'' (2001), ''Always Sorry'' (2005) and ''As Always'' (2005).

On 13 April 2007, Emin launched a specially designed flag made out of fabric with the message ''One Secret Is To Save Everything'' written in orange-red letters across the banner made up of hand-sewn swimming sperm. Tracey Emin's flag, at 21 feet by 14 feet, will fly above the Jubilee Gardens in the British capital until 31 July 2007, with the parliament building and the London Eye as backdrops. Emin called the artwork "a flag made from wishful thinking". The flag was commissioned by the South Bank Centre in London's Waterloo.

In June 2007, on returning from the Venice Biennale, Emin donated a piece of artwork, a handsewn blanket called ''Star Trek Voyager'' to be auctioned at Elton John's annual glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball to raise money for The Elton John AIDS Foundation. The piece of artwork sold for £800,000.

Emin's works on fabric has been related to other artists such as Louise Bourgeois, who Emin actually mentions in a sewn work called ''The Older Woman'' (2005) with the phrase (monoprint on fabric), "I think my Dad should have gone out with someone older like Louise, Louise Bourgeois". Emin was interviewed by Alan Yentob during the BBC's ''Imagine'' documentary ''Spiderwoman'' about Louise Bourgeois, aired in the UK on 13 November 2007.

Found objects

Emin has often made use of found objects in her work from the early use of a cigarette box found in a car crash in which her uncle died. The most well known example is ''My Bed'', where she displayed her bed. Another instance is the removal of her beach hut from Whitstable to be displayed in a gallery. This work was titled ''The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here (The Hut)'' (1999).

She revisited the theme of the bed in 2002, with the mixed media installation, ''To Meet My Past'' (2002), another installation with a four poster bed with embroidered text such as ''Weird Sex'' and ''To Meet My Past'' hanging down alongside the mattress.

Emin also incorporated stones and rocks which had been thrown through her window in a mixed media piece in her 2005 show. The work consists of a monoprint of herself sitting on a chair with the stones lined up below the drawing in a vitrine.

''The Leg'' (2004) included a plaster cast inside a vitrine, kept by the artist after she broke her leg, exhibited alongside a C-print photograph of the artist wearing the cast.

Installations

Emin has created a number of installation art pieces including ''Poor Thing (Sarah and Tracey)'' (2001) which was made up of two hanging frames, hospital gowns, a water bottle and wire. A similar installation called ''Feeling Pregnant III'' (2005) made up of fabric hung off wooden and metal coat hangers and stands was a later creation for Emin. Both these installations touch further on Emin's relationship with pregnancy and abortion and can be related to Louise Bourgeois' sculptures such as ''Untitled'' (1996), a mobile of hanging clothes, and ''Untitled'' (2007), a series of standing bronze sculptures.

''The Perfect Place to Grow'' (2001) was a video installation with a set consisting of a wooden birdhouse, a DVD (shot on Super 8), monitor, trestle, plants, wooden ladder. This installation has been exhibited at the Tate Britain in 2004 in their room dedicated to Emin's work and also White Cube in 2001. It was dedicated to her father, creating the bird house as ''a tiny home for my dad'' and Emin thought of the works' title from the idea of ''nature and nurture''.

''Knowing My Enemy'' (2002) was a large scale installation created by Emin for her Modern Art Oxford solo show of that year. Consisting of reclaimed wood and steel, Emin created a wooden 'look-out' house upon a long, broken, wooden pier. ''It's Not the Way I Want to Die'' (2005) was another large scale installation, part of Emin's 2005 solo show at White Cube. Emin created a large rollercoaster track with reclaimed timber and metal. Displayed in the same show was a smaller installation work called ''Self Portrait'' (2005) which consisted of a tin bath, bamboo, wire and neon light. Another related installation ''Sleeping With You'' (2005) consisted of painted reclaimed timber and a thin neon light across a dark wall.

Films

Emin featured with her then boyfriend, Billy Childish, in ''Quiet Lives'' (1982) (11 mins, 16 mm, written and directed by Eugene Doyen), once available with ''Cheated'' and ''Room for Rent'' in ''A Hangman Triple Bill'', also known as ''The Hangman Trilogy'', Hangman Films. ''Quiet Lives'' is discussed in an article on Childish's films in No Focus: punk on film (Headpress, 2006).

An autobiographical work is the film, ''CV Cunt Vernacular'' (1997), in which Emin narrates her story from childhood in Margate, through her student years, abortions and destruction of her early work.

''Top Spot'' (2004) is a feature-length non-fiction production, mixing DV footage and Super 8 film into lyrical montage. The title refers to a youth centre/disco in Margate (but also a sexual reference), ''Top Spot''. The film draws heavily on Emin's teenage experiences of growing up in Margate, and features six teenage girls who share their stories. The natural beauty of the sea and the sunsets is linked with Margate’s more manmade pleasures, underscored with a selection of 1970s songs that formed the soundtrack to the artist’s own adolescence. It was shot during the summertime in Margate, London, and Egypt. Emin withdrew the film from general distribution in cinemas, after the film was rated with an 18 certificate. In December 2004, the film was broadcast on BBC3 television in the UK. A DVD of the film was released in 2004.

Books

''Six Turkish Tales'' (1987) was published by Hangman books as written by T. K. Emin. Emin's editor for ''Six Turkish Tales'' was Billy Childish and Bill Lewis and the cover was illustrated by Billy Childish.

''Exploration Of The Soul'' (1994) An autobiographical short story which goes from Emin¹s conception to age thirteen. It was a limited edition of 200 copies. Signed on inside with 2 original colour photographs. Book is housed in a hand-sewn white cloth bag with 2 coloured cloth letters "TE" hand sewn (colours such came in green, blue, yellow, pink). In 2003, the book was re-released as an edition of 1000 by Counter Editions (minus the cloth bag/photographs).

''Details of Depression'' (2003) Written by Emin using her full name, Tracey Karima Emin: Cyprus/London. Another limited edition, stamped on the back cover, which brings together an ancient Arabic poem and a series of photographs taken around Northern Cyprus. Published by Counter Editions at the same time as the re-issued version of ''Exploration Of The Soul''.

''Strangeland'' (2005) was Emin's long-awaited memoir. It is divided into three sections, "Motherland", "Fatherland" and "Traceyland". It is written in the first person and conveys an unvarnished look at her life from childhood. Jeanette Winterson wrote, "Her latest writings are painfully honest, and certainly some of it should have been edited out by someone who loves her." Emin's editor for Strangeland was the British novelist Nicholas Blincoe. This book also attracted considerable media coverage and Billy Childish publicly questioned some accounts in newspaper articles.

''Those Who Suffer Love'' (2009) A new compiled selection of Tracey Emin’s GQ poems complete with accompanying drawings.

''Love Is What You Want'' (2011) A new survey of work, accompanying Emin's major show at the Hayward Gallery in London.

''My Life in a Column'' (2011)

Sculpture

In February 2005, Emin's first public artwork, a bronze sculpture, went on display outside the Oratory, adjacent to Liverpool Cathedral. It consists of a small bird perched on a tall bronze pole, and is designed so that the bird seems to disappear when viewed from the front. It was commissioned by the BBC. "Emin's work stands outside The Oratory, in Upper Duke Street just outside the Cathedral. The Roman Standard - which features a small bird on top of a four-metre high bronze pole - is a tribute to the city's famous symbol the Liver Bird. The sculpture was commissioned by the BBC as part of their contribution to the art05 festival and Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture in 2008. Emin says the sculpture represents strength and femininity." In September 2008, Emin will unveil a brand new neon work that will "be installed in the well of the cathedral" Emin herself says of her continuing relationship of making public sculptures in the town, "When Liverpool is Capital of Culture in 2008, I'll be making a large work for the Anglican Cathedral, which I'm really looking forward to."

Other sculptures have included ''Death Mask'' (2002) which is a bronze cast of her own head. Emin loaned this work to the National Portrait Gallery in 2005,

At Emin's 2007 ''Venice Biennale'' exhibition, as well as the central exhibition's ''Tower'' sculptures, tall wooden towers consisting of small pieces of timber piled together, a new small bronze-cast sculpture work of a child's pink sock was revealed ''Sock'' (2007) on display on the steps of the British Pavilion. Her exhibition again attracted widespread UK media coverage, both positive and negative.

In September 2007, Emin announced she would be exhibiting new sculpture work in the inaugural Folkestone Triennial which took place in the Kent town from June until September 2008. In June 2008, Emin discussed the Folkestone sculptures, stating the "high percentage" of teenage pregnancies in the Kent town had inspired this latest work. Emin said her contribution would be different pieces placed around the town, }}

Emin's 2007 solo show at Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles' Beverly Hills included brand new sculpture works described by Emin as, "some very strange little sculptures. They are nearly all of animals, apart from one, which is a pineapple. They rest on mini-plinths made in a really brilliant LA, beach, California, Fifties surfer kind of style. Different woods put together in cute pattern formations. In some places the wood is 18th-century floorboards, some bits of cabin from tall ships or things which could have been found on the seashore – driftwood." The New York Times included Emin in a piece about artists who are ''Originals'' with a new photograph with two sculptures, one of a small bird on a thin stand and a large seagull, both sculptures placed upon wooden plinths. Gagosian further described the many different sculptures from the show as, "a group of delicate wood and jesmonite sculptures, which expand on the spirals, rollercoasters, and bridges of recent years. Others incorporate cast bronze figures – seagulls, songbirds, and frogs — or objects combining cement and glass, which are placed on tables or bundled bases made from found timbers."

In late November 2007, it was announced that Emin was one of six artists to have been shortlisted to propose a sculpture for the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square. The other shortlisted artists were Jeremy Deller, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Yinka Shonibare, and Bob and Roberta Smith - the professional name of Patrick Brill. The contenders were commissioned to produce a scale model of their idea. On 6 January 2008, it was revealed Emin's proposal was a lifesize model of a group of four meerkats, the desert mammal. Entitled ''Something for the Future'' it consists of a sculpture of four meerkats "as a symbol of unity and safety." as "whenever Britain is in crisis or, as a nation, is experiencing sadness and loss (for example, after Princess Diana's funeral), the next programme on television is 'Meerkats United.'" The successful proposals were announced in 2008 as Gormley, whose project One & Other occupied the plinth in summer 2009 and Shonibare, whose work ''Nelson's Ship in a Bottle'' was unveiled in 2010.

Definition of art

In common with many YBAs, including Damien Hirst, Emin employs assistants for fabrication purposes, for example sewing the lettering onto her appliquéd pieces.

A poster she photocopied and put up around her home when her cat Docket went missing became an object collected by people, but was excluded by Emin from her canon.

In 2000 Emin was commissioned, as part of a scheme throughout London titled ''Art in Sacred Spaces'', to collaborate with children on an artwork at ''Ecclesbourne Primary School'' in Islington, North London. Pupils made the piece with her in Emin's style of sewing cut out letters onto a large piece of material. In 2004, the school enquired if Emin would sign the work so that the school could sell it as an original to raise funds. They planned to auction the piece for £35,000 for an arts unit, as it could not afford to display the large work. Emin and her gallery White Cube refused saying that it was not a piece of her art, therefore reducing its value and requested it be returned. But Emin quickly came to an agreement with the school, where she paid £4,000 to create a perspex display box for the patchwork quilt to be showcased. Taking as her theme the title "Tell me something beautiful", Emin invited eight-year-olds to nominate their ideas of beauty and then to sew the keywords in felt letters on bright fabric squares. The resulting bold patchwork, featured words such as "tree", "sunrise", "dolphin" and "nan". Art critic John Slyce, who has worked on school collaborations with artists, supported Emin and White Cube's decision saying, "This is a horrific precedent for the school to try to set. They were lucky to have an artist of that stature spending that amount of time with them ... the artwork should remain in context with the kids. Children's primary experience of art should not be as a commodity."

Modern Art Oxford (2002-2003)

From November 2002 - January 2003, Tracey Emin's solo exhibition ''This Is Another Place'' was held at Modern Art Oxford and marked the museum's reopening and renaming to Modern Art Oxford. The exhibition was Emin's first British exhibition since 1997. The exhibition contained drawings, etchings, film, neon works such as ''Fuck off and die, you slag'', and sculptures including a large scale wooden pier, called ''Knowing My Enemy'', with a wooden shack on top made from reclaimed timber. Emin commented that her choice to exhibit in Oxford was due to personal reasons as museum director Andrew Nairne had always been "a big supporter of my work". An exhibition catalogue included 50 illustrations: "a compilation of images and writings reflecting her life, her sexual experiences and her desires and fears."

Momart fire (2004)

On 24 May 2004, a fire in a Momart storage warehouse in East London destroyed many works from the Saatchi collection, including Emin's famous tent with appliquéd letters, ''Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995'' ("The Tent") (1995) and ''The Last Thing I Said To You Is Don't Leave Me Here'' ("The Hut") (1999), Emin's blue wooden beach hut that she bought with fellow artist Sarah Lucas and shared with her boyfriend of the time, the gallerist Carl Freedman. Emin spoke out angrily against what she perceived as a general public lack of sympathy, and even amusement, at the loss of the artworks in the fire. However, she also put the loss in her perspective, commenting:

Venice Biennale (2007)

In August 2006, the British Council announced that they had chosen Emin to produce a show of new and past works for the British Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007. Emin was the second woman to produce a solo show for the UK at the Biennale, following Rachel Whiteread in 1997. In a BBC interview, Andrea Rose, the commissioner for the British Pavilion, said the exhibition would allow Emin's work to be viewed "in an international context and at a distance from the YBA generation with which she came to prominence."

Emin has chosen the title ''Borrowed Light'' for the in-depth exhibition of her work. The artist produced new work especially for the British Pavilion, using a wide variety of media - from needlework, photography and video to drawing, painting, sculpture and neon. A promotional British Council flyer includes an image of a previously unseen monoprint for the exhibition called ''Fat Minge'' (1994) which will be included in the show whilst the Telegraph newspaper featured a photo of a new purple neon ''Legs I'' (2007) which will be on display (directly inspired by Emin's 2004 purple watercolour ''Purple Virgin'' series. Emin herself summed up her Biennale exhibition work as,

Emin was interviewed about the Venice Biennale in her East London studio by the BBC's Kirsty Wark; this was broadcast on BBC Four television channel in November 2006. Emin showed Wark some work-in-progress, which included large-scale canvases with paintings of Emin's legs and vagina. Starting with the ''Purple Virgin'' (2004) acrylic watercolour series with their strong purple brush strokes depicting Emin's naked open legs, leading to Emin's paintings in 2005-6 such as ''Asleep Alone With Legs Open'' (2005), the ''Reincarnation'' (2005) series and ''Masturbating'' (2006) amongst others, these works are a significant new development in her artistic output.

In an interview with Lynn Barber published in The Observer newspaper the week before the launch of Emin's biennale show, the artist said of her work, Andrea Rose, the British Pavilion commissioner, added to this commenting on the art Emin has produced, 'It's remarkably ladylike. There is no ladette work - no toilet with a poo in it - and actually it is very mature I think, quite lovely. She is much more interested in formal values than people might expect, and it shows in this exhibition. It's been revelatory working with her. Tracey's reputation for doing shows and hanging them is not good, but she's been a dream to work with. What it shows is that she's moved a long way away from the YBAs. She's quite a lady actually!'

Royal Academician (2007)

On 29 March 2007, Tracey Emin was made Royal Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts. Emin became a member of the Royal Academy joining an elite group of artists including David Hockney, Peter Blake, Anthony Caro and Alison Wilding. This entitles Emin to exhibit up to six works in the annual summer exhibition.

Emin has a long history of exhibiting her art at the Royal Academy, having been invited to include works at their Summer Exhibitions in 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2001. For 2004's Summer Exhibition, Emin was chosen by fellow artist David Hockney to submit two monoprints, one called ''And I'd Love To Be The One'' (1997) and another on the topic of Emin's abortion called ''Ripped Up'' (1995) as that year's theme celebrated the art of drawing as part of the creative process. Whilst 2007 saw Emin exhibit a neon work called ''Angel'' (2005). Emin's art was first included at the Royal Academy as part of the ''Sensation'' exhibition in 1997.

For the June 2008 Summer Exhibition, Emin has been invited to curate a gallery. Emin also gave a public talk in June 2008 interviewed by art critic and broadcaster Matthew Collings, contemplating her role within the Royal Academy, the Academy’s relationship to the contemporary art world, and her perspective, as an artist, on hanging and curating a gallery in the Summer Exhibition.

''Twenty Years'' retrospective (2008)

The first major retrospective of Emin's work was held in Edinburgh between August and November 2008 attracting over 40,000 visitors, breaking the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s record for an exhibition of work by a living artist.

The large scale exhibition included the full range of Emin's art from the rarely seen early work to the iconic ''My Bed'' (1998) and the room-sized installation ''Exorcism of the Last Painting I Ever Made'' (1996). The show displayed her unique appliquéd blankets, paintings, sculptures, films, neons, drawings and monoprints. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art was the only UK venue for the show which travels to the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo in Málaga, Spain and then to the Kunstmuseum in Bern, Switzerland from 2009.

It was reported on 6 November 2008 that Emin gifted a major sculpture to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art as a "thank you" to both the gallery and the city of Edinburgh. The work called ''Roman Standard'' (2005) comprises a bronze pole, surmounted by a little bird, cast in bronze. The work has an estimated value of at least £75,000.

''Love Is What You Want'' retrospective (2011)

In May-August 2011, a major survey exhibition at London's Hayward Gallery consisted of work from all aspects of Emin’s art practice, revealing facets of the artist and her work that are frequently overlooked. The exhibition included painting, drawing, photography, textiles, video and sculpture, with rarely before seen early works alongside more recent large-scale installations. Emin made a new series of outdoor sculptures especially for this solo show.

London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Tracey Emin is a mentor on the ''BA Great Britons Programme'', and will mentor an up and coming British talent to produce artwork for 12 BA aircraft in the run up to the London 2012 Games. Emin will also produce a poster and limited edition print for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, one of only 12 British artists selected.

Stuckism

Emin's relationship with the artist and musician Billy Childish led to the name of the Stuckism movement in 1999. Childish, who had mocked Emin's new affiliation to conceptualism in the early '90s, was told by Emin, "Your paintings are stuck, you are stuck! – Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!" (that is, stuck in the past for not accepting the YBA approach to art). He recorded the incident in the poem, "Poem for a Pissed Off Wife" published in "Big Hart and Balls" Hangman Books 1994, from which Charles Thomson, who knew them both, later coined the term Stuckism.

Emin and Childish had remained on friendly terms up until 1999, but the activities of the Stuckist group offended her and caused a lasting rift with Childish. In a 2003 interview, she was asked about the Stuckists: }} Childish left The Stuckist movement in 2001.

Charity work

Emin is well known for her charity work including raising over a million pounds for children's charities such as the NSPCC and for HIV/AIDS charities including the Terrence Higgins Trust. Emin frequently donates original artworks for charity auctions, and has often adopted the role of auctioneer on the charity night to help increase the highest bid.

In June 2007, on returning from the Venice Biennale, Emin donated a piece of artwork, a handsewn blanket called ''Star Trek Voyager'' to be auctioned at Elton John's annual glamorous White Tie & Tiara Ball to raise money for The Elton John AIDS Foundation. The piece of artwork sold for £800,000. Also in June 2007, Emin's neon work ''Keep Me Safe'' reached the highest price ever (at that time) made for one of her neon works of over £60,000.

Emin has participated in The Independent newspaper's ''Christmas Appeal'' for many years, where she has offered for auction bespoke artworks and also drawing lessons with the artist. In December 2006, Emin's lot raised £14,000 for a one-on-one drawing lesson, over champagne and cake, with the artist. The following year, in December 2007, Emin's lot raised £25,150 for their appeal offering a special unique drawing of the highest bidder's pet embroidered on to a cushion in Emin's trademark style.

In January 2008, Emin went to Uganda where she had set up the brand new "Tracey Emin Library" at the rural Forest High School. She explained in her newspaper column, "Schools here don't have libraries. In fact, rural areas have very little. Most have no doctor, no clinic, no hospital; schools are few and far between. Education cannot afford to be a priority, but it should be... I think this library may be just the beginning."

On Valentine's Day 2008, Emin donated a red, heart-shaped neon artwork called ''I Promise To Love You'' (2007) for a charity auction to raise money for The Global Fund, which helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. The auction was called ''(Auction) RED''. The work sold for a record price $220,000, which was much higher than the guide estimates of between $60,000 and $80,000.

Music

In 1998, Emin duetted with pop singer Boy George on a song called ''Burning Up'', released on an 18 track audio CD that accompanied the book ''We love you''..

In 2005, Emin compiled a CD of her favourite music called ''Music To Cry To'' released and sold by the UK household furnishings retailer and brand Habitat.

In 2009, Emin designed the album artwork for singer/songwriter Harper Simon, son of Paul Simon. The front cover depicts an aeroplane, drawn in Emin's trademark scratchy monoprint style.

Political views

Emin has been a critic of Britain's Labour tax regime, stating "I’m simply not willing to pay tax at 50%", she is "very seriously considering leaving Britain", and suggests she will live in France "The French have lower tax rates and they appreciate arts and culture". Emin has since corrected the rumour that she intends to leave the country, stating that a journalist she spoke to previously exaggerated her comments, and that London is her home, and is the context in which she belongs.

''The Independent'' newspaper reported in August 2010 that Emin is thought of as a supporter of the Conservative Party. Indeed, in an interview with the ''New Statesman'' she revealed that she voted for the Conservatives at the 2010 General Election, adding, "We've got the best government at the moment that we've ever had."

References

Further reading

Elliot, Patrick and Schnabel, Julian. ''Tracey Emin: Twenty Years'' (National Galleries of Scotland, 2008) ISBN 978-1906270087.

Emin, Tracey. ''Borrowed Light: the British Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2007'' (London: British Council, 2007) ISBN 0863555896.

Emin, Tracey. ''Tracey Emin: Works 1963 - 2006'' (London: Rizzoli, 2006) ISBN 0-8478-2877-8.

Brown, Neal. ''Tracey Emin (Tate's Modern Artists Series)'' (London: Tate, 2006) ISBN 1-8543-7542-3.

Doyle, Jennifer. ''Sex Objects: Art and the Dialectics of Desire'' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006) ISBN 0-8166-4526-4.

Emin, Tracey. ''Strangeland'' (London: Scepter, 2005) ISBN 0-3407-6944-0

Emin, Tracey. ''I Can Feel Your Smile'' (New York: Lehmann Maupin, 2005)

Emin, Tracey. ''The Is Another Place'' (Oxford: Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; Limited edition, 2002) ISBN 1-9013-5215-3

Emin, Tracey, Brown, Neal and Kent, Sarah and Collings, Matthew. ''Tracey Emin'' (London: Jay Jopling/White Cube, 1998) ISBN 0-9522-6902-3

Merck, Mandy and Townsend, Chris (eds). ''The Art of Tracey Emin'' (London: Thames & Hudson, 2002) ISBN 0-5002-8385-0

Remes, Outi. "After Bad Taste: Tracey Emin’s Work on Abortion and Other Confessions" in Harris, Jonathan. (ed.) ''Inside the Death Drive Excess and Apocalypse in the World of the Chapman Brothers.'' (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press and Tate Liverpool, 2010) 119-143. ISBN 9781846311925.

Remes, Outi. “Replaying the Old Stereotypes into an Artistic Role: the case of Tracey Emin” in ''Women’s History Review'' (Vol. 18, No. 4, September 2009) 561-577.

External links

Official Tracey Emin website

Film about joint 2010 exhibition with Paula Rego and Mat Collishaw at the Foundling Museum - The Guardian

Works in the National Galleries of Scotland

Tracey Emin Profile at European Graduate School (Biography, bibliography and video lectures)

Tracey Emin at White Cube

Ctrl+P Article on Tracey Emin

Tracey Emin at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Tracey Emin at the Saatchi Gallery, London

Video interview with the artist on Tate Online

Interview with young people on the Tate website

Tracey Emin Faculty page at the European Graduate School

Interview on The Guardian Website on her debut film Top Spot

Interview in The Observer about Margate

Tracey Emin interviewed in The Guardian about Momart Fire

h2g2 article on Tracey Emin

''Emin's Bed'' Lego sculpture by the Little Artists

Tracey Emin interviewed by Ginny Dougary (2004)

Tracey Emin Interviewed On BBC Radio 4.Listen online

Tracey Emin Interviewed in 1997 by Neal Brown: Billy Childish "A Major Influence"

Interactive video interview with Tracey Emin and interactive exploration of her work at the Tate Gallery.

Interview with Tracey Emin for bmi Voyager Magazine, October 2007

Tracey Emin: Biography and critical analysis

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:English feminists Category:English painters Category:Conceptual artists Category:Installation artists Category:Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Category:Alumni of the University for the Creative Arts Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art Category:European Graduate School faculty Category:Feminist artists Category:Royal Academicians Category:English people of Turkish descent Category:English people of Cypriot descent Category:British women artists Category:People from Croydon Category:People from Margate

br:Tracey Emin cs:Tracey Eminová da:Tracey Emin de:Tracey Emin es:Tracey Emin fa:تریسی امین fr:Tracey Emin ru:Эмин, Трейси fi:Tracey Emin sv:Tracey Emin

bgcolour	#6495ED
name	Antony Gormley
birth name	Antony Mark David Gormley
birth date	August 30, 1950
birth place	London, England, UK
field	Sculpture
awards	}}

Antony Mark David Gormley OBE RA (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His best known works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in the North of England, commissioned in 1995 and erected in February 1998, ''Another Place'' on Crosby Beach near Liverpool, and ''Event Horizon'', a multi-part site installation which premiered in London in 2007, and in 2010 around Madison Square in New York City.

Early life

The youngest of seven children born to a German mother and an Irish father, Gormley grew up in a wealthy family living in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire. He attended Ampleforth College, a Benedictine boarding school in Yorkshire, before reading archaeology, anthropology and the history of art at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1968 to 1971. He travelled to India and Sri Lanka to learn more about Buddhism between 1971 and 1974. Attending at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and Goldsmiths in London from 1974, he completed his studies with a postgraduate course in sculpture at the Slade School of Art, University College London, between 1977 and 1979.

Career

Gormley's career was given early support by Nicholas Serota who had been a near contemporary of Gormley's at Cambridge giving him a solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1981. Almost all of his work takes the human body as its subject, with his own body used in many works as the basis for metal casts.

Gormley describes his work as "an attempt to materialise the place at the other side of appearance where we all live." Many of his works are based on moulds taken from his own body, or "the closest experience of matter that I will ever have and the only part of the material world that I live inside." His work attempts to treat the body not as an object but a place and in making works that enclose the space of a particular body to identify a condition common to all human beings. The work is not symbolic but indexical — a trace of a real event of a real body in time.

Gormley won the Turner Prize in 1994 with ''Field for the British Isles''. He was later quoted as saying that he was "embarrassed and guilty to have won — it's like being a Holocaust survivor. In the moment of winning there is a sense the others have been diminished. I know artists who've been seriously knocked off their perches through disappointment."

The 2006 Sydney Biennale featured Gormley's ''Asian Field'', an installation of 180,000 small clay figurines crafted by 350 Chinese villagers in five days from 100 tons of red clay. The appropriation of others' works caused minor controversy, with some of the figurines being stolen in protest. Also in 2006, the burning of Gormley's 25-metre high ''The Waste Man'' formed the zenith of the Margate Exodus.

In 2007, Gormley's ''Event Horizon'', consisting of 31 life-size and anatomically-correct casts of his body, four in cast iron and 27 in fiberglass, was installed on top of prominent buildings along London's South Bank, and was later installed in locations around New York City's Madison Square in 2010. Gormley said of the New York site that "Within the condensed environment of Manhattan's topography, the level of tension between the palpable, the perceivable and the imaginable is heightened because of the density and scale of the buildings" and that in this context, the project should "activate the skyline in order to encourage people to look around. In this process of looking and finding, or looking and seeking, one perhaps re-assess one's own position in the world and becomes aware of one's status of embedment." Critic Howard Halle said of it that "Using distance and attendant shifts of scale within the very fabric of the city, [''Event Horizon''] creates a metaphor for urban life and all the contradictory associations – alienation, ambition, anonymity, fame – it entails."

Gormley proposed a 40-foot-high ejaculating man for the Seattle waterfront in 2008. The figure was meant to give an 11-second ejaculation of sea water every five minutes. "I intended it as an ironic comment on the male figure in relation to the whole idea of a fountain, because everyone knows the fountain is a male fantasy of permanent ejaculation." The project was deemed inappropriate and was rejected.

In July 2009, Gormley presented ''One & Other'', a Fourth Plinth Commission, an invitation for members of the public, chosen by lot, to spend one hour on the vacant plinth in Trafalgar Square, London.

Gormley was a trustee of the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art until 2007 and, since April 2007, of the British Museum. He is also an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and patron of the Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary, administered by disability led arts organisation Shape. In October 2010, he and 100 other leading artists signed an open letter to the Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt protesting against cutbacks in the arts.

On 13 March 2011, Gormley was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for the set design for ''Babel (Words)'' at Sadler's Wells in collaboration with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet.

Major works

Gormley's website includes images of nearly all of his works up to 2009. The most notable include:

''Field'' (and subsequent recreations)

''Sound II'' (1986) – in the crypt of Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire, England

''Iron: Man'' (1993) – Victoria Square, Birmingham, England

''Havmannen'' (1995) – Mo i Rana, Arctic Circle City, Norway

''Another Place'' (1997) – currently at Crosby Beach near Liverpool, England

''Quantum Cloud'' (1999)– Greenwich, London, England

''Angel of the North'' (1998) – Low Fell (overlooking the A1 and A167 roads), Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England

''Time Horizon'' – the Archaeological Park of Scolacium near Catanzaro in Calabria, Southern Italy

''Event Horizon'' (2007) – along the South Bank of the Thames, London, England; (2010) around Madison Square, New York City

''Filter'' (2002) – acquired by Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England, in 2009

''One & Other'' (6 July – 14 October 2009) – Trafalgar Square, London, England

''Habitat'' – Gormley's first permanent installation in the United States, in Anchorage, Alaska on the grounds of the Anchorage Museum, cost an estimated $560,000.

''Reflection II'' (2008) – acquired by DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, Massachusetts, in 2009

''Voices from Oxford'' – Gormley's sculpture on top of Exeter College, Oxford, overlooking Broad Street

''Horizon Field'' (2010–2012) – sculpture installation in the Austrian Alps.

References

;Notes

External links

Antony Gormley — official website ''AntonyGormley.com''

Gormley's exhibition in Guernsey for the International Artist In Residence Programme IAIRP

Pictures of Gormley's sculpture in Oxford being erected on 15 February 2009

An interview with Gormley by Edward Lucie Smith in RealMedia format

Interactive video interview with Gormley and interactive exploration of his work at the Tate Gallery

Antony Gormley audio: The artist considers his art and his research into the Wellcome collections

Antony Gormley at Xavier Hufkens, Brussels

Tate: In the Studio: Antony Gormley A tour of the artist's studio. 1 September 2007.

Category:Contemporary sculptors Category:20th-century sculptors Category:21st-century sculptors Category:English sculptors Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Category:Alumni of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Art Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Old Amplefordians Category:Royal Academicians Category:Trustees of the British Museum Category:Turner Prize winners

de:Antony Gormley es:Antony Gormley eo:Antony Gormley fr:Antony Gormley fy:Anthony Gormley ia:Antony Gormley he:אנטוני גורמלי ka:ენტონი გორმლი nl:Antony Gormley ja:アントニー・ゴームリー no:Antony Gormley nn:Antony Gormley ru:Гормли, Энтони fi:Antony Gormley sv:Antony Gormley

name	Stella Vine
birth name	Melissa Jane Robson
birth place	Alnwick, Northumberland, England
nationality	English
field	Painting
training	Academy of Live and Recorded Arts
works	}}

Stella Vine (born Melissa Jane Robson, 1969) is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting with subject matter drawn from either her personal life of family, friends and school, or rock stars, royalty and celebrities.

After a difficult relationship with her stepfather, she left home and in her teens, had a son, with whom she moved from Northumberland to London. She worked in various jobs, including as a waitress, stripper and cleaner. She joined the NYT (National Youth Theatre of Britain) in 1983, and studied for three years at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts 1987–1990.

In 1999 – 2001, she took her son to painting classes at the Hampstead School of Art, where she found her own vocation as a painter. In 2001, she was exhibited by the Stuckists group, which she joined for a short time; she was married briefly to the group co-founder, Charles Thomson.

In 2003, she opened her own gallery Rosy Wilde in East London. In 2004, Charles Saatchi bought ''Hi Paul can you come over I'm really frightened'' (2003), a painting by her of Diana, Princess of Wales, which provoked media controversy, as did a subsequent painting of drug victim, Rachel Whitear. There was a dispute with the Stuckists, who said they had influenced her work; Vine said they had not.

Later work has included Kate Moss as a subject, as in ''Holy water cannot help you now'' (2005). In 2005, another painting of Diana, Princess of Wales, ''Murdered, pregnant and embalmed'' (2005) was bought by George Michael. In 2006, she re-opened her gallery in Soho, London.

The first major show of her work was held in 2007 at Modern Art Oxford, which won over some previously hostile critics. Germaine Greer gave a public talk at the museum about Vine's work and wrote an essay for the exhibition catalogue. The ''Financial Times'', said Vine's scrutiny of the cult of celebrity as contemporary fairy tale was descended from the same tradition as Andy Warhol and Hans Christian Andersen. In the same year, Vine provided clothing designs for Topshop. In 2009, the Oxford Union Society announced they had invited Stella Vine to debate on 19 February.

Life and career

Early life

Stella Vine was born Melissa Jane Robson in Alnwick, Northumberland, England. Her name was changed to Melissa Jordan after her stepfather's name; she subsequently changed it to Stella Vine in 1995, inspired by Andy Warhol names, as "I didn't feel like I belonged to either of my fathers' families." She lived with her mother who was a seamstress and her grandmother who was a secretary. Her mother remarried when she was seven, and they relocated to Norwich.

Vine said she was, "making things and performing music and plays, as far back as I can remember." When she was a child, she used to make water colours in the library, painting Queen Victoria, and copying the Pre-Raphaelites and Greek Mythology.

She loved the TV series Bagpuss, and said as an adult that the words and tunes were still in her head: "It had a dark edge to it – it filled your imagination." In 1981, she won a silver cup for "most original act" for a mime in a talent competition at the Norwich Theatre Royal.

After a difficult relationship with her stepfather, she left home aged 13. Vine lived in the infamous Argyle Street squat before being briefly fostered in Brixton, London but her new foster parents were unable to cope with her wilfulness. Vine then moved back to Norwich, to teach herself in the Norwich Reference Library. The "resourceful" young Vine asked for advice on home education from an old lady at the local CAB. She moved into a bedsit on St Stephen's Street, Norwich, where she started a relationship with a 24-year-old caretaker. Two years later she became pregnant. Vine's first job was at age 14 in a local Norwich cake shop. Vine also signed on for the dole pretending to be aged 19 under the name of Jane Blackford, explaining she’d lost her birth certificate.

London

At the age of 17, she gave birth to a son, Jamie, moving with him into a home for single parents called Umbrella Housing. and then to London, where Vine joined the NYT (National Youth Theatre of Britain) in 1983, and the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, London, 1987–1990. They moved to Tooting in 1987 and her son went to a Montessori nursery school.

She lived with musician Ross Newell, "the love of her life" for over four years, but "stupidly" left him for another relationship; two years later she wanted to restart the relationship with Newell, but he no longer trusted her. In 2004, by which time Newell was settled in a marriage with children, Vine said that he was still her "soul mate". Describing how she decided to become an artist and what inspired her, Vine said a "wonderful ex-boyfriend" called Ross had always told her she should become a painter, and that she had always made "crazy doodles", but her ambition at that time was to be Bette Davis, Poison Ivy or Joan Littlewood. In 2004, Vine painted all three.

For five years she also performed as an actress, touring provincial theatres around the UK, as well as running her own improvised theatre company, Minx Productions, and playing with her band, Victoria Falls. Vine said it was difficult to tour with a small child but earned her Equity Card by performing with Durham Theatre Company. Amongst other roles, she played Barclay in What The Butler Saw at Theatre Clwyd, The National Theatre of Wales: she was a fan of playwright Joe Orton, whom she discovered at drama school. Vine said she would wake up early and dance to songs by PJ Harvey before improvising around her character to prepare for each day's rehearsals. Vine remembers seeing "wonderful paintings by Gainsborough" whilst rehearsing at Kenwood House, London.

In the late 1980s, Vine met the film director Mike Leigh. After seeing Mike Leigh's film ''Meantime'', it became her ambition to direct and act in improvised films. When Vine was in her early twenties she auditioned for him twice. Leigh said to her: "I can understand why you want to be other people." Vine later said of her paintings that they are perhaps her "other people". Waldemar Januszczak said her artwork was "method painting: painted projections of herself" as in the Stanislavski system.

In 1995, she abandoned her ambitions to be an actress and became a hostess in a Mayfair club, where most of the activity was talking, often to elderly men, and "Any negotiation for sexual favours, or your time, or conversation, was very old-fashioned. Very English." Using the name "Stella Vine", she became a lap dancer, drinking vodka to overcome the difficulty of approaching customers, but being comfortable on stage, where she performed "incredibly erotically", while also often feeling like a social worker. She worked as a stripper at Miranda's and later at the Windmill Club in Soho to pay the rent, whilst living with her son in bedsits.

One man she met, whom she described as a "sugar daddy" and with whom she was still in contact in 2007, looked after her for six years, and in 1998 took her to New York, where he introduced her to the Frick Collection. She recalled in 2007 that "the candy coloured" room of Gainsborough proved such a rush of excitement that she had to sit down. Vine said she had a hidden desire for "pretty, pretty things, and there it was in all its glory." Januszczak said that this was the moment Vine "realised how much prettiness was possible in art."

Vine took her son out of school because he had been bullied and educated him at home. From 1999 or 2000 (dates vary) until 2001, she enrolled him for part-time evening painting classes at Hampstead School of Art, an unfunded, non-profit making charity. Vine wanted to vary his lessons and make life as fun as possible for her son, but he didn’t like going to the classes, so she took his place instead and found her vocation as a painter. Paintings done at the school included portrait heads.

The Stuckists

Vine developed a "crush" on Billy Childish, and attended his music events; in June 2000, she went to a talk given by him and fellow Stuckist co-founder, Charles Thomson, on Stuckism. She met Thomson on 30 May 2001 at the ''Vote Stuckist'' show in Brixton; she exhibited some of her paintings publicly for the first time in the show and formed The Westminster Stuckists group. On 4 June, she took part in a Stuckist demonstration. On 10 July, she renamed her group The Unstuckists. In October, there was a Vine painting in the first Stuckist show in Paris.

She had a two month relationship with Thomson and they married on 8 August 2001 in New York. two days later they had an intense row; she left him and they did not meet again till a week later in London. They split up after about two months, and were divorced in October 2003.

In February 2004, when Vine "rose to fame after being championed by Charles Saatchi", Thomson said that it was he and the Stuckists, not Saatchi, who had "discovered" Vine. In March 2004, Vine said that she had only seen Thomson once in the previous two years, in an art shop, and that she married him because this had been a condition of his paying off her debts of £20,000.

Thomson said that this had been part of a business arrangement to promote themselves as an art couple, and that there had been no condition of marriage. She later told ''The Times'' that it was "impossible to explain" why she married Thomson: "When I met him and he saw some of my history, he saw dollar signs." Thomson said that she avoided reality: "Now it makes me question a lot of things she told me about her past."

On 28 March 2004, Thomson reported Saatchi to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for alleged breaches of the Competition Act and cited as an example Saatchi's promotion of Vine. The OFT did not uphold the complaint. In September 2004, Vine threatened suicide if her work was included in the The Stuckists Punk Victorian show at the Liverpool Biennial; the owner of the painting withdrew it.

In October 2006, The Stuckist group show, ''Go West'', at Spectrum London gallery, included two paintings by Thomson, which were "explicit images of his ex-wife." Vine said she had no comment. In February 2008, Stuckist artist, Mark D (real name Mark Randall) opened a show of satirical paintings based on Vine's work." Several years previously, Randall had attempted to buy a painting from Vine, who told him, "Go fuck yourself", when she found out he had a link with Thomson. In September, Thomson criticised the Tate gallery for not representing enough figurative painters, among whom he listed Vine, and said she should have been a Turner Prize nominee for her show at Modern Art Oxford.

In 2002 – 2003, Vine studied Philosophical Aesthetics with Johnathan Lahey Dronsfield at Birkbeck College whilst also attending the course ''Performance After Warhol'' with Professor Gavin Butt in 2002, and ''Women's Work'' with Kathy Battista at Tate Modern. She said she also found much of her art education through the Serpentine Gallery bookshop and became involved with East London artist-run galleries.

Rosy Wilde and Saatchi

In 2003, she opened the Rosy Wilde gallery on Whitecross Street in east London. Vine bought the former butchers shop and converted it herself into a gallery space that exclusively held exhibitions of contemporary art by emerging artists. Vine lived and worked in a studio above the artist-run gallery whilst her son lived in the basement.

Vine's mother, who had been ill with Crohn's disease, died suddenly from bowel cancer around this time which led to Vine's high creative drive and the creation of her darkest paintings.

In November 2003 she made the first of her Diana, Princess of Wales paintings and those of teenage girls like Rachel Whitear who suffered tragic deaths. She painted as many as 30 of Diana alone, having become fascinated by conspiracy theories into the Princess' tragic car crash which she had read on the Internet. Vine destroyed many of these paintings soon after they were created. She put them all, apart from one, in a skip as she did not have enough space to dry nor store the wet paintings.

The gallery was on the verge of bankruptcy, when Charles Saatchi purchased her painting of Diana, Princess of Wales ''Hi Paul can you come over I'm really frightened'' (2003), showing the Princess with heavy eyes and blood on from her lips. The work's title came from the thick red text painted across the canvas, a reference to Diana's butler Paul Burrell. Thanks to the Saatchi purchase, Vine said she could pay the bills by painting and she did not need more than that. The price of her paintings "doubled virtually overnight".

Saatchi had discovered the painting in a show called ''Girl on Girl'' in Cathy Lomax's Transition Gallery, which is housed in a converted garage in Hackney. Vine had originally wanted to price the painting at £100. Lomax described the painting: :Stella Vine's work deals with her fascination with the trashy and the dark. Underlying this is a sometimes contradictory love for her subjects. ''Hi Paul can you come over...'' examines that pivotal moment in the standing of the British Monarchy, the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and the horror of her crash. All the conspiracy theories are summed up in this painting as a wild eyed and tiara clad Diana cries for help whilst painterly blood drips from her luscious lips. Vine said in 2007 that she had always been drawn to "the beauty and the tragedy of Diana’s life".

As Saatchi anticipated, much of the media attacked the work in his ''New Blood'' exhibition, creating a considerable return in publicity for his investment. Media coverage focused on the controversial nature of the painting, as well as the fact that the painting had been bought for only £600 from an unknown artist, who was a single mother and an ex-stripper. In its first 21 days the show had 56,000 visitors, more than had previously seen shows by both The Chapman Brothers and Damien Hirst. Saatchi hit back at critics saying he was being cast as "a pantomime villain". Saatchi also backed up his choice of art works by saying it was mindless to dismiss the art he chose to show, just because it was him showing it. He also defended his choice to show Vine's work, saying many critics knew "remarkably little about new art, can't cope without their PC guidebook or a press release and are always, but always, 10 years late getting their heads around anything new."

A subsequent purchase by Saatchi of Vine's painting of Rachel Whitear (also with blood running from the mouth) created further media reaction, as Whitear was a former drug user, whose body was due for exhumation. Vine refused to acquiesce to the parents' request, backed by the police, not to exhibit the painting, then on view in the Saatchi Gallery in the ''New Blood'' show during March 2004. Saatchi had delegated to her the decision to keep the work on display or withdraw it. Emma Saunders of the BBC said, "whatever the rights and wrongs of displaying such work, the images are startlingly beautiful" Vine discussed the controversy surrounding her ''Rachel'' (2003) painting on BBC Radio 4's programme Front Row

In 2004, David Lee, editor of ''The Jackdaw'' magazine, attacked Charles Saatchi's ''New Blood'' exhibition for having "promoted a rotten, talentless painter called Stella Vine to public notoriety" and Richard Dorment, ''The Daily Telegraph'' critic, said: "It's trash. It is another stab at creating the visual equivalent of tabloid journalism." Waldemar Januszczak, ''The Sunday Times'' critic singled her out for praise in his otherwise hostile review of the Saatchi Gallery's ''New Blood'' show in 2004, and later said, "although I didn’t much want to like Vine’s contribution, I found I did. It had something." Alex Michon, in an essay for the ''Prozac and Private Views'' catalogue, said that Adrian Searle of ''The Guardian'' was one of the only critics to acknowledge that he had been evaluating a reproduction of Vine's painting. Searle wrote: "I can't tell from the reproductions of her work I have seen whether it is an act of balderdash, good painting or bad, bad painting; but it is clear that Vine knows the difference." Vine said she was upset that some people, including her relatives, didn't like her image of Diana, as she believe it was not a disrespectful picture but it was in fact a self portrait as much as depiction of Diana: "The picture is about two women. One who lived in Kensington Palace. And the other who lives down the Whitecross Street. "I look at the picture," says Vine, "and I also see myself.""

June – July 2004, Vine held her first solo exhibition, ''Prozac and Private Views'', at Transition Gallery, London, featuring new paintings such as ''Geri'' (2004) of popstar Geri Halliwell, ''Ted'' (2004) of Ted Hughes and two self-portraits of Vine as a child ''Melissa pink dress'' (2004) and ''Baby'' (''Baby Melissa'') (2004). The show included two Vine sculptures including ''Sylvia cooker'' (2004), a gas cooker with enamel painting of Sylvia Plath on its door. Vine was interviewed about the exhibition by Jenni Murray for ''BBC Radio 4'''s programme Woman's Hour.

On 1 July 2004, one of Vine's paintings ''Kitten'' (2004) was stolen from the exhibition at 1.30 pm. Cathy Lomax, who was invigilating at the time, called the police who said there was little chance of finding it. ''The Hackney Gazette'', ''The East London Advertiser'' and ''Flash Art'' reported the theft. Vine commented: "I am sad as Kitten was one of my favourite paintings, and also because it had been promised to a young American couple, who had been waiting for a painting for some time. I hope that whoever stole it, stole it because they loved it, and not because of all the hype."

In September 2004, Vine went back to her home town of Alnwick, where she donated 3 paintings to the Bailiffgate Museum collection, the local museum. Two of the paintings were autobiographical. One painting called ''The Rumbling Kurn'' (2003) shows part of the Alnwick shoreline near Howick beach, whilst ''27 Clayport Gardens'' (2004) depicts Vine in a pram as a child "outside her grandmother's old house". The third work depicts Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour called ''Belle'' (2004) is a painting with collage, including a pink satin ribbon and a small cut out ink jet print of a bee, stuck on to the painting. The name ''Belle'' is painted in red across the circular board.

Kate Moss paintings

In 2005, Vine lived in Los Angeles having been invited by Roberts & Tilton gallery to put on a solo show there The solo exhibition ''Petal (Part Two)'' ran from 3 June – 2 July 2005. From Los Angeles, Vine returned to London, living for a short while in Montague Street in a hotel; in order to avoid making a mess in her room, she painted in a van to prepare work for a show in New York.

Vine moved to a flat in London's Bloomsbury district, opposite the British Museum, feeling at home with the historic character of the area. She continued with an erratic, bohemian life, using a local Camera Café as her office. There followed solo shows in Israel, Los Angeles, London and New York. She was included in the second Prague Biennale. Also in 2005, her solo show of new paintings ''Stellawood'' was staged at Tim Jefferies' gallery in Mayfair, London. At this time Vine collaborated with the artist James Jessop for the exhibition ''Fame'' at the This Way Up Gallery above the Dragon Bar in East London. The installation of paintings was based on the New York graffiti scene of the 1980s, including depictions of Fab Five Freddy, Keith Haring and Blondie.

In July 2005, Vine made a painting of the No. 30 London bus which had been destroyed by a suicide bomber in Tavistock Square, outside her Bloomsbury flat; part of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Vine painted over the artwork almost as soon as she had made it, as she found the work "simply too disturbing". Vine documented the bus painting before she re-painted over it, but refuses to show the photographs publicly during her lifetime. She described it as stunning and moving but "extremely harrowing to paint because there were bodies on the bus." The canvas now shows the model Abi Titmuss wearing bleeding red shoes. Vine's decision to paint over the work was because she believed it too shocking to be exhibited but said freedom of expression was more important to her than money or success and that she reserves the right to paint anything that is shocking in life: "As an artist, if you can't take that freedom, you're a wanker."

In August 2005, her painting ''Hi Paul can you come over I'm really frightened'' (2003) was listed in ''The Guardian'' at number three in a list of the ten worst paintings in Britain, having been chosen by David Andrews, a caricaturist who works in Leicester Square. A new Vine painting of Diana, Princess of Wales called ''Murdered, pregnant and embalmed'' (2005), was bought by George Michael for £25,000, reported in ''The Sun'' newspaper which condemned it as "sick".

Vine has made a number of large paintings of Kate Moss including ''Holy water cannot help you now'' (2005) and ''Kate unfinished'' (2005). Some of Vine's paintings of the supermodel were painted during the media scandal regarding Moss' alleged cocaine use. One painting of Moss exhibited at Hiscox Art Projects in London, had a slogan ''Must be the season of the witch'' across it in red paint. Describing why she painted Moss, Vine compared the supermodel to Mona Lisa and said: "There's a bravery in Kate's eyes." Waldemar Januszczak said the show was "a combination of empathy and cynicism that can be startling."

Vine herself admitted to a four-month cocaine addiction. She said, "I had been painting Kate Moss for a long time, both before the time of her crisis and during it. I felt very strongly for her—she's a hard-working mum and it seemed as if suddenly the world turned against her." Vine said the media should not have accused Moss of being a bad mother, commenting that "men can go off and take as many drugs as they want, have as many children as they want, and their parenting rarely comes into question". A Vine painting of Kate Moss was bought by fashion designer, Alexander McQueen.

Rosy Wilde re-opens

In 2006, she re-opened her Rosy Wilde gallery, this time in Wardour Street on the first floor above the first Ann Summers sex shop in Soho, London. After being collected by Saatchi, who Vine said had acted "entirely honourably", she worked with a number of dealers who told her they had sold paintings when in fact they had saved the best works for themselves. Commenting on her experiences in the commercial gallery world, Vine said: "The art world is really exactly the same as the sex industry: you have to be completely on guard, you will get shafted, fucked over left, right and centre." Vine said:

:"I have always been ambitious, no doubt about that. I always felt like I had to reach the dizzy heights of fame and success or whatever the heights are of a number of given professions I have dabbled in, to prove myself, "Stripper of the year", a Bafta or whatever, for me it was by creating something interesting and entertaining or moving, but not by compromising the thing I was creating, that thing had to reach those heights, I guess it's about being accepted and loved a bit or a lot."

In June 2006, Vine held a solo show at the Bailiffgate Museum in Alnwick called ''Whatever Happened to Melissa Jane?''. The exhibition title played on the title of the 1962 film, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?: "Vine often uses witty pieces of text within her work that reflect the subject’s possible thoughts on, or reactions to, a situation."

In August 2006, she was featured in the tabloids, when her painting of Celebrity Big Brother stars, Samuel "Ordinary Boy" Preston and Chantelle Houghton, "was used as the invitation to their wedding".

September – October 2006, Vine was invited by the Museum of New Art in Detroit, to create a USA solo exhibition ''The Waltz''. Rather than a regular exhibition, Vine painted a large-scale mural across the museum space over a period of 5 days. The "live painting performance" was filmed and later exhibited alongside the stacked mural as a six-channel video installation showing Vine creating the mural, adding an extra dimension to her work.

On 21 November 2006, Vine was filmed with Modern Art Oxford gallery director Andrew Nairne as part of Tim Marlow's documentary called ''Tim Marlow on... Modern Art Oxford'' on Five (TV channel).

In April 2007, Vine was filmed in an episode of Horizon called ''Battle of the Brains'' for BBC Two in 2007.

In May 2007, Vine took part in a public talk ''Gender & Culture'' with Germaine Greer as part of the Women's International Arts Festival. Vine was later interviewed by students from John Mason School, and Oxford Community School, Oxford in July 2007, organised by Arts Council England.

Modern Art Oxford

July – September 2007, the first major solo show of Vine's work was held at Modern Art Oxford. The show included more than 100 paintings which had not previously had much exposure, and also work made specially for the show, including a new Diana, Princess of Wales series of paintings such as ''Diana branches'' (2007) and ''Diana family picnic'' (2007) which "echoes the style" of family portraits painted by Thomas Gainsborough. Vine hoped these new works would show Diana's combined strength and vulnerability as well as her close relationship with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Vine oversaw the set up and installation of her exhibition at the museum herself but did not attend the opening press launch day or any of the private view evenings. In an education guide published by the museum, there was a quote from Vine: "I’m not interested in being a shocking artist and not interested in being a celebrity myself."

A book ''Stella Vine: Paintings'' accompany the exhibition, including an essay by Germaine Greer. On 18 September 2007, Greer gave a talk about Vine's art with gallery director Andrew Nairne. Vine was initially expected to be part of the talk with Greer, but did not attend due to personal reasons. ''The Independent'' reported that Vine's "apparent reticence to step into the spotlight does not appear to have hampered her career commercially in any way" as all the paintings in the exhibition were sold.

Prior to the show opening, Vine said: Vine's solo exhibition took place across the whole of the museum; in the 'Piper Gallery', the 'Middle Gallery' and the large 'Upper Gallery' which had many paintings of different sizes, hung from floor to ceiling: "a style of hanging paintings that is reminiscent of the salon hang, a 19th Century fashion for displaying paintings."

Richard Dorment of ''The Daily Telegraph'', who had previously described her work as "crappy", said of the show, "Well blow me down, she's good after all. Stella Vine is bang on the money: the paintings in her first solo show skewer celebrity culture with a vitality and truth that can't be faked".

Lynn Barber, art critic for ''The Observer'' wrote that she thought Vine was the real deal. ''The Guardian'' commented: "Vine's lurid and gutsy paintings are causing a storm in the art world. And rightly so." Arifa Akbar of ''The Independent'' said Vine's examination of the culture of celebrity had been described as descending from the same tradition as pop art founder, Andy Warhol. Vine said to ''The Independent on Sunday'' that she feels a strong connection to Warhol and having studied Warhol in depth on a course at Tate Modern she also considers herself as a similar type of character as him.

Jackie Wullschlager in the ''Financial Times'' likened Vine to Hans Christian Andersen in that she is "a fabulist who is both a grown-up artist and, emotionally, a child so damaged that she cannot grow up", "clever, literate, witty", and "Warhol's descendent" in her understanding of the idolisation of celebrity as a contemporary fairy tale.

Andrew Nairne, director of Modern Art Oxford, said in the gallery's Summer brochure, that Vine will be discovered to be one of the most remarkable painters of our time. Germaine Greer wrote in the show catalogue, "Though Stella Vine remains viscerally connected to the facts of her life, she is not her own hero. Her art is not a performance.". Greer likened Vine's focus on the "iconography of the face, the two-eared badge of identity" to the way Marlene Dumas and Jenny Saville have explored the imagery of the human body, and that when Vine "seizes on her celebrity subject and throttles her into paint, smearing her lipstick and melting her eye-makeup, she is as implacable as any rapist."

Ana Finel-Honigman wrote in her introduction to an interview with Vine on the Saatchi Gallery web site: "the quality that critics use to undermine the credibility of Vine's art—that it is adolescent—is actually the source of its indisputable emotional impact." Finel-Honigman described Vine's art as bitterly honest in the same way Holden Caulfield's observations were about "a world filled with phonies", and Kurt Cobain's songs about "adult lies and injustice", and Sylvia Plath's "over-heated anger and bitterness at the world's betrayals" and that "Plath would surely appreciate Vine's portrait of Ted Hughes, with the epithet, ''Daddy, I have had to kill you'' emblazoned on the canvas." It was reported that Vine subsidised the Modern Art Oxford solo show by giving the museum four of her paintings valued at £46,000 to cover the costs of shipping more than 100 works from all over the world to Oxford. The musicians Gina Birch of rock band The Raincoats and KatieJane Garside of rock band Daisy Chainsaw both performed live at the party to commemorate the end of Vine's solo show. Birch had previously performed at Vine's gallery Rosy Wilde in 2003 and at the opening of Vine's exhibition ''Prozac and Private Views'' in 2004. In September 2007, Immodesty Blaize said she had been entranced by Vine's painting ''Diana crash'' (2007) at Modern Art Oxford finding it "by turns horrifying, bemusing and funny".

Top Shop and Sport Relief

In July 2007, Vine collaborated with Topshop clothing chain, creating a limited edition fashion range inspired by her artworks. These included T-shirts, vest tops, and T-shirt dresses, the labels designed in pink glitter. The Guardian commented that "the fact that the range of T-shirts she has recently designed for Top Shop – emblazoned with slogans like ''Breaks Up With Her Boyfriend'' – are flying out, speaks volumes for her public support."

In 2008, Vine created the painting ''Didier'' (2008), depicting sports star Didier Drogba, for the charity Sport Relief. Vine also allowed them to create a limited edition print of ''Didier'' (2008) to help raise further funds for the charity. In April 2008, a drawing of author J. K. Rowling by Vine was auctioned for The Merlin Project charity who raise funds to build a Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre.

Vine told ''The Guardian'' that she would spend Christmas Day 2008 with a run around the Serpentine, or a walk in Hyde Park or across London town with her son's bullmastiff dog and a small haversack of whisky and coffee.

In the February 2009 issue of Gay Times, Vine discussed the 'tabloid frenzy' and media scrutiny that followed Saatchi collecting her work in 2004: "In the beginning it was a real battle to assert any kind of intelligence at all.". She spoke of pouring her emotions out in interviews and coming across as "a bit wild" and explained her mother had died at that time: "you are in a bit of a crazy place after something like that.". She said she now feels like "someone who's grown up" and that she sees life in a "much more mature kind of way". Vine said she was happy the media gave her a platform when no-one else did, and in spite of getting annoyed when factually incorrect things were said about her or when her comments were taken out of context, she did not really mind, as out of that she had the "opportunity for people to see my work and make their own decisions."

Vine described modern celebrity culture as nothing new, that it's something humans had always done and that she admired people who were under intense pressure like Britney Spears who she felt was "very, very brave". Vine discussed her paintings of other musicians such as Morrissey (and his band The Smiths), who she admires for his "physicality, his voice and his maverick stance and independence". Vine painted Amy Winehouse in ''Amy brick wall'' because of Amy's "bizarre mixture" of fragility and strength, and "the whole thing of putting her man on a pedestal, almost like a Country & Western singer from the 60s." Vine described Kurt Cobain as a good, brave person and that her paintings of Courtney Love such as ''Courtney guilty'' were made during Love's trial when Vine felt Love was under attack, which she identifies with: "She's one of those people who are prepared to put the truth out, warts and all, even though you will be attacked for it.

Future

On 19 February 2009 at Oxford Union Vine is spoke in proposition of the motion ''This House Believes That Promiscuity Is A Virtue Not A Vice'', along with Dr. Shere Hite, Carol Queen and Joani Blank; in opposition were the Bishop of Ebbsfleet (Andrew Burnham), Wendy Shalit and Inga Muscio.

In November 2008, it was announced that Vine had begun painting a series of new work for a large solo show at The Eden Project, Cornwall, England to be held June – September 2010.

Solo Shows

2004 ''Prozac and Private Views'', London, UK

2004 ''Petal'', Tel Aviv, Israel

2005 ''Stellawood'', London, UK

2005 ''Petal (Part Two)'', Los Angeles, USA

2006 ''Whatever happened to Melissa Jane?'', Alnwick, UK

2006 ''The Waltz'', Detroit, USA

2007 ''Stella Vine: Paintings'', Oxford, UK

Collections

Saatchi Gallery

Bailiffgate Museum

George Michael (Goss-Michael Foundation) David Roberts (David Roberts Art Foundation) Brandes Family Collection, Israel Jacopelli Collection, Italy Adele Robert Diament Alexander McQueen Private Collections in USA, Israel, Italy, Germany and UK

Notes and references

External links

Stella Vine web site

Rosy Wilde Gallery (historic site)

Stella Vine paintings and CV

Stella Vine blogs for Guardian, 2007

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:British women artists Category:English painters Category:Contemporary painters Category:People from Alnwick Category:Women painters

name	Alan Yentob
birth date	March 11, 1947
birth place	London, United Kingdom
occupation	Television executive & broadcaster
spouse	Phillipa Walker
footnotes	}}

Alan Yentob (born 11 March 1947) is a British television executive and presenter who has worked throughout his career at the BBC.

Early life

He was born into a Jewish family of Iraqi descent in London, and was educated at the independent The King's School, Ely and Leeds University.

Career

He joined the BBC as a trainee in the BBC World Service in 1968.

In 1973, Yentob became a producer and director working on the high-profile documentary series, ''Omnibus'', for which in 1975 he made a famous film called ''Cracked Actor'' about the musician David Bowie. He went on later in 1975 to initiate another famous BBC documentary series, ''Arena'', of which he was to remain the Editor until 1985, and the series itself still returns for semi-regular editions as of 2006.

He left ''Arena'' to become the BBC's Head of Music and Arts, a position he occupied until 1987, when he was promoted to Controller of BBC Two, one of the youngest channel controllers in the BBC's history. Under Yentob's five year stewardship BBC Two was re-vitalised and he introduced many innovations in programming such as ''The Late Show'', ''Have I Got News For You'', ''Absolutely Fabulous'' and ''Wallace and Gromit'''s ''The Wrong Trousers''.

Yentob was rewarded for his success in 1993 when he was promoted to Controller of BBC One, responsible for the output of the BBC's premier channel. His time here was seen as another success and he remained in the post for three years until 1996, when he was promoted again to become BBC Television's overall Director of Programmes.

This appointment was only a brief one, however, before a re-organisation of the BBC's Executive Committee led to the creation of a new post, filled by Yentob, of Director of Drama, Entertainment and Children's. This placed Yentob in overall supervision of the BBC's output in these three genres across all media - radio, television and Internet. He occupied this post until June 2004, when new BBC Director-General Mark Thompson re-organised the BBC's executive committee and promoted Yentob to the new post of BBC Creative Director, responsible for overseeing BBC creative output across television, radio and interactive services.

In the 2000s, he has also begun fronting BBC programmes as a presenter. These have included a series on the life of Leonardo da Vinci and a new regular arts series, ''Imagine''.

One episode of ''Imagine'' has Yentob explore the World Wide Web, Blogging, User created content, and even the use of Wikipedia, exploring people's motives and satisfaction that can be had from sharing information on such a large scale. His own blog, created during the making of the episode, was subsequently deleted and purged. In 2007, Yentob appeared as the 'host' of the satirical ''Imagine a Mildly Amusing Panel Show'', a spoof ''Imagine...'' episode focused on the comedy panel game ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks''.

Yentob's reputation was affected when it was revealed that his participation in some of the interviews for ''Imagine'' had been faked. Yentob has been warned not to do this again, but otherwise not disciplined, much to the disgruntlement of some who have seen more junior staff lose their jobs for lesser misdemeanours.

In 2005, Yentob was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from De Montfort University, Leicester.

In July 2009 he was revealed to have accumulated a pension worth £6.3m, giving an annual retirement income of £216,667 for the rest of his life. This is one of the biggest pensions in the public sector. He has been on the Board of Trustees of The Architecture Foundation.

On 16 March 2010, Yentob and Nigella Lawson opened the new Jewish Museum in Camden, London.

He is referred to by the nickname Botney (Yentob spelled backwards) by the magazine ''Private Eye''.

Family

Yentob is married to Philippa Walker, a television producer. He has two children, Isabella and Jacob.

Yentob's twenty-year-old son Jacob Walker Yentob was wounded in a stabbing incident in September 2006. Jacob and a friend were stabbed after refusing to hand over valuables to a robber who knocked on the door at the family's four-storey Victorian home in Notting Hill. Both teenagers needed hospital attention after the attack.

References

External links

BBC Imagine site

Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds Category:English Jews Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:BBC executives Category:BBC One controllers Category:BBC Two controllers Category:British people of Iraqi descent Category:Iraqi Jews Category:People from London Category:People educated at The King's School, Ely

''100 Greatest Britons'' was broadcast in 2002 by the BBC. The programme was the result of a vote conducted to determine whom the United Kingdom public considers the greatest British people in history. The series, ''Great Britons'', included individual programmes on the top ten, with viewers having further opportunities to vote after each programme. It concluded with a debate. All of the top 10 were deceased by the year of broadcast.

The poll resulted in candidates including Guy Fawkes, who was executed for trying to blow up the Parliament of England; Oliver Cromwell who created a republican England; King Richard III, suspected of murdering his nephews; James Connolly, an Irish nationalist and socialist who was executed by the Crown in 1916; and a surprisingly high ranking of 17th for the former ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' star Michael Crawford. In addition to the Britons, some notable non-British entrants were listed, including two Irish nationals, the philanthropic musicians Bono and Bob Geldof. Furthermore, many candidates were from an era in which Britishness did not exist. The top 19 entries were people of English origin (though Sir Ernest Shackleton and Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, were both born into Anglo-Irish families when what is now the Republic of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom). The highest-placed Scottish entry was Alexander Fleming in 20th place, with the highest Welsh entry, Owain Glyndŵr, at number 23. Sixty had lived in the twentieth century. The highest-ranked living person was Margaret Thatcher, who placed 16th. Ringo Starr is the only member of The Beatles not on the list.

Top 10 on the list

Due to the nature of the poll used to select and rank the Britons, the results do not claim to be an objective assessment. They are as follows (people marked (*) also appeared on the 100 Worst Britons list compiled by Channel 4): # Sir Winston Churchill, (1874–1965), British politician, Prime Minister during World War II # Isambard Kingdom Brunel, (1806–1859), civil engineer, creator of Great Western Railway, and designer of numerous significant ships and bridges. # Diana Spencer (1961–1997), first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales (marriage 1981–1996), and mother of Prince William, now Duke of Cambridge, and Prince Harry of Wales # Charles Darwin (1809–1882), naturalist, originator of the theory of evolution through natural selection and author of ''On the Origin of Species.'' # William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English poet and playwright, thought of by many as the greatest of all writers. # Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727), physicist, originator of the laws of classical mechanics and gravity. # Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603), monarch (reigned 1558–1603) # John Lennon (1940–1980), musician with The Beatles, philanthropist, peace activist, artist # Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (1758–1805), naval commander # Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), Lord Protector

Several of these also appear in Channel 4's list of 100 Worst Britons (a tongue in cheek response to this show), owing to strongly polarised views on their works, lives or legacies — notably this includes Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, and the current monarch, Elizabeth II. Channel 4 refused to take votes for dead figures, with their broadcast considerably lighter in tone.

There was some question as to whether the Richard Burton listed at #96 is the actor or the explorer. A BBC press release makes it clear that they intended the Burton so honoured to be the actor.

References

External links

Churchill memorial press release

BBC Great Britons press release

BBC Great Britons book and links at National Portrait Gallery

100 great Britons - A complete list — Mail Online

Category:BBC television programmes Britain Category:Lists of British people Category:2002 in British television Category:Lists of people by nationality

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