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Tracey Emin Interview: “If I Hadn’t Made Art, I’d Be Dead By Now”
We speak to British artist Tracey Emin in her hometown of Margate, where she has created a new painting to raise funds for TKE Studios, a pioneering complex serving the next generation of radical creatives. “I don’t want to die as an artist who has done really interesting work. I want to create a future.
Above the Harbor Arm in Margate is a pink neon sign, I never stopped loving you. Tracey Emin’s elegant 2010 piece is a fitting statement to the city in which she grew up. While living in London for more than three decades, Emin’s connection to Margate was never far away, underscoring her work throughout her career. She eventually returned to the coastal village in 2016 and today champions its revival. “I came back to Margate a different person and I came back to a different Margate. So it’s like we’re both in tandem, in tune with each other,” she said as we toured her new artist’s studio compound, a 10-minute walk from her neon installation.
The pioneering complex, named TKE Studios for her anonymous Taki Karima Emin, is located in a former Edwardian bath a short walk from her home and studio. It houses a network of 12 professional artist studios, an exhibition space, a madhouse that will become a mini conservatory, reception and a specialist bookstore. Ample natural light finds its way into each of the generously proportioned studios, with sunlight flooding the main exhibition space through arched skylights. Basic utilities are already provided, and some studios are additionally subsidized by Emin herself. “Most artists in big cities are pushed out by developers,” she says. “Margate and Thanet are completely welcoming artists. They want artists here. They want creative energy.
An interior view of TKE Studios in Margate, founded by artist Tracey Emin to serve the next generation of pioneering artists. Photography: Elissa Cray © Christie’s Images Limited 2022
On the ground floor, with a separate entrance through the future sculpture garden, Emin is set to open the Tracey Emin Artist Residency in January 2023. Organized with photographer Elissa Cray, each two-year residency will foster up to 20 aspiring and early-career artists engaged in the development of his creative discipline. The guest speaker program includes art critics Matthew Collings, Jonathan Jones, Jerry Saltz, artists Jake Chapman, David Dawson, Kenny Schachter and Vivienne Westwood. Emin hopes to create an exciting environment for artists, emphasizing a rigorous exhibition cycle and intergenerational dialogue through lively debate and critique. “Everyone I’ve spoken to wants to do it because we all know the education system right now is extremely difficult,” she explains. “The way I handled it back then, every scholarship under the sun and every scholarship I could get was hard enough. There’s no way I’m going to do that today. If I hadn’t made art, I would be dead by now. So everything I pay to society would be lost. When I was sick, I thought I was going to die. Part of me asked what was this all about? What am I here for? What am I doing? I knew I could do a lot more, but I wasn’t sure what it was. And then it all made perfect sense. If we can get one person here to become a really good, amazing artist, I’ve done my job.
To help fund this dream initiative, Christie’s is presenting the artist’s highly personal painting, Like a cloud of blood (2022). The work will be on display in London from 6 to 13 October, at the head of Christie’s 20th Century & 21st Century: Evening Sale on 13 October at a handsome estimate of £500,000-700,000. The painting is one of the first works created by Emin after recovered from bladder cancer in 2020. “I hadn’t drawn properly for so long. All my muscles were just eaten away when I was sick. Emin says. ‘[In recovery] I started swimming and everything picked up. When I started painting again, I couldn’t believe it. I was so excited. All my colors were different. Everything was different. The painting features Emin’s iconic figurative study of the body under an abstract pink Margate sky. “It’s about love and feeling loved; it’s about desire. Even with cancer, I still have these emotions and passion and feel all these things.
Like a cloud of blood (2022), a new painting by Tracey Emin, to be auctioned at Christie’s on October 13 to raise funds for TKE Studios. © Christie’s Images Limited 2022
Emin’s work has never shied away from the visceral and deep-seated emotions of the human condition. Whether it’s fifty double-hung sleepless self-portraits, dripping canvases of bereavement, an 18-ton bronze sculpture honoring her mother, or a simple and tender handwritten love poem to Margate, her work traces a complex and tumultuous existence. One that captivates and conquers. “Throughout her career, Tracey Emin has invited viewers to share the most intimate aspects of her life,” said Catherine Arnold, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe. “With extraordinary frankness and bright vision, c Like a cloud of blood she lets us into her world after her cancer diagnosis. The searing honesty we’re used to in her work resonates with audiences even more in this picture. The studio complex has now been fully purchased, so all additional funding from the sale of the piece will go towards developing new artists through the residency and reinvesting in TKE Studios for the future.
Emin says: “I don’t want to die as an artist who has done really interesting work. I want to create a future. If my art can do something for the future, then I am doing the right thing. I’ve traveled all over the world in every direction and I’m coming back again. And this, Margate, I chose. §
Photography: Elissa Cray © Christie’s Images Limited 2022
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