Known for her raw and irreverent artwork, Tracey Emin is one of the most widely admired artists working today. In a vivid and intimate portrait of her life and work, in her own words through conversation with author and art critic Martin Gayford, Tracey Emin reflects on painting—how she approaches it, why it matters to her, and how it connects to her life—and how everything has changed since her cancer diagnosis four years ago.
Richly illustrated with photographs of the artist and her work, this book is a beautifully captured record of Tracey Emin about her inspirations, her working environment, and her relationship with other artists from the past and present.
“Drawing is an extension of the soul. You have a vision in your mind, then it comes through your hand, out onto the paper, and back into your mind again. It’s a very good therapeutic exercise. It’s quite cleansing. There’s alchemy involved.”
Offering a uniquely personal insight into the artist’s extraordinary life and career, Emin expresses herself in her characteristically frank confessional style that is so familiar to anyone who has seen her paintings. This is Tracey Emin on her own terms: on learning to paint, how to live her life after cancer, and relearning why painting matters above everything else.
Reviews
A book full of heart—frank and confessional—that presents Emin at the zenith of her powers.
— Ariane Bankes, The Spectator
A unique blend of artist monograph, art-historical account, confessional biography, and casual conversation, which ultimately provides an emotionally wrought and intellectually engaging portrait of the artist… A how-to, or how-not-to guide for all struggling artists to consider.
— The Brooklyn Rail
Contributors
Martin Gayford
Author
Martin Gayford is a writer and art critic. He is the author of acclaimed books on Van Gogh, Constable, and Michelangelo. His books include My Heart Is This: Tracey Emin on Painting, How Painting Happens (and why it matters), Man with a Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait with Lucian Freud, Modernists & Mavericks: Bacon, Freud, Hockney, and the London Painters, A Bigger Message: Conversations with David Hockney, Spring Cannot be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy (with David Hockney), Love Lucian: The Letters of Lucian Freud 1939–1954 (with David Dawson), and Venice: City of Pictures.
