Every Part of Me's Bleeding

Tracey Emin

May 1 - June 26, 1999
540 West 26th Street

Press Release

Lehmann Maupin is pleased to announce an exhibition by artist Tracey Emin. Tracey Emin lives and works in London and has been exhibiting widely in Europe and Japan since 1993. A large museum exhibition of her work opened in 1997 at the South London Gallery in London and traveled to the Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst in Bremen, Germany. This will be Emin's first one-person exhibition in the United States.

Tracey Emin was born in London in 1963 and was raised in the seaside town of Margate on the English coast. After leaving school at an early age, Emin enrolled at Maidstone College of Art in Kent at the age of 20 and studied painting. She then went to London where she completed a Masters in Painting at the Royal College of Art. Emin is a storyteller whose subject matter comes from Emin's own rich life. Emin's first one-person gallery exhibition at the White Cube titled "My Major Retrospective" included family memorabilia accompanied with each related story and also presented an archive of Emin's early paintings which she had destroyed. Her book "Exploration of the Soul" told the story of her life from her and her twin brother's conception, their birth and early life to the age of 13. She presented this collection in a series of readings during a journey across America. In 1995, Emin opened The Tracey Emin Museum in London. At the museum, Emin sat with her work and spoke with visitors to encourage an exchange of experiences.

"Every Part of Me's Bleeding" will consist of many works done in a variety of media including several large-scale sculptures, drawings, neon pieces, video and a quilt. One large-scale piece in the exhibition is a seaside beach hut from a past vacation spot of Emin's friend artist Sarah Lucas, Emin and a former boyfriend. The actual hut has been carefully taken apart and reassembled in the main gallery space. Through the poetry of her honest retelling of unique and intimate life-events Emin establishes a generous dialogue between the viewer and the artist. The personal expands to the universal in the way Emin takes a feeling about her life and forms it into a genuine expression of a human emotion.

Artists in this exhibition

• Tracey Emin

Press

• Artforum Download PDF ()
• New York Times Download PDF ()

Exhibition Works

The Hut, 1999 Mixed media 115 x 176 x 96 inches 292.1 x 447 x 243.8 cm LM1604


The first time I was pregnant I started to crochet the baby a shawl, 1998-2000 yarn, needle, wood, text, plexiglass 55.7 x 16 x 16 inches (crochet piece) 141.5 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm 12.5 x 9 inches (text) 31.8 x 22.9 cm LM1938


My Bed, 1998 mattress, linens, pillows, rope, suitcases, and various memorabilia various dimensions LM1517


My Cunt is Wet With Fear, 1998 neon 10 x 55 inches 25.4 x 139.7 cm Edition of 3 LM1553


The History of Painting, 1998 (detail) Three pregnancy tests, morning after pills, five cases; wood, plexiglas with tampons, blood, tissue LM1937


The Interview, 1999 16 minute PAL laserdisc, TV/VCR monitor, two chairs, two pairs of slippers, platform 47 x 47 x 25 inches 119.5 x 119.5 x 63.5 cm LM1566


Very Happy Girl, 1999 neon 30 x 58 inches 76.2 x 147.3 cm (top panel) 15 x 98 1/2 inches 38.1 x 250.2 cm (bottom panel) Edition of 3 LM1748


Pysco Slut, 1999 applique blanket 96 x 76 inches 243.8 x 193 cm LM1605


Berlin The Last Week in April 1998 1998 watercolor 17 1/8 x 18 1/2 inches 43.5 x 47 cm LM1523