Art is born when individuals are eager to express themselves and show the audience what concerns them and what is important to them. Occasionally, when people contemplating it do not understand the message or do not relate, they call it controversial. In other words, they promote a dispute about the possibility of calling it a real piece of art. This paper aims to study the work by Tracy Emin and analyze it from its artistic value.
The art project My Bed (1998) by the British artist Tracey Emin represents an installation of an unmade bed with household waste scattered around it. The central object of the work is a wooden bed that belonged to the artist. There is a dirty sheet, pillows, and a blanket in a chaotic mass with tights on top of it. The blue bedside rug stores a pile of different objects: empty bottles, a pillbox, underwear, a toy, and other personal effects. Emin created it the way it looked like during a depressive period of her life.
Emin herself stated that she wanted to demonstrate a desperate woman that needed help. “I had a kind of mini nervous breakdown in my very small flat and didn’t get out of bed for four days” (Schnabel, 2006, para. 38). The work was received ambiguously by the public and often caused people to feel disgusted or shocked. Emin allowed everyone to see the intimate part of her life and presented to the general public everything that was usually safe from prying eyes. In doing so, she questioned the usual boundaries of personal and social, art and life. The work reflects a new modern aesthetics that transforms outwardly ugly objects into a piece of art. For me personally and our generation in general, to witness this means a lot: it reveals to plain people that candidness is not faulty and that it is not beyond normal to be depressed and express it. In a society with feigned beauty as an ideal, the installation of an imperfect bed is a breath of fresh air and a piece of truth.
It is the object itself, which is art at the same time. If Duchamp called the urinal “Fountain” and, as it were, changed its essence, Emin’s bed remained a bed, and all the dirt was her dirt and was shown as her dirt and garbage. Crumpled, stained sheets lie on the bed like the defeated banners of Tracy Emin, who lost the battle for happiness. This piece of art can be characterized as complete spontaneity, self-reflection, frank conversation, protest, challenge, the bitterness of depression. The medium of revealing the idea does not bring aesthetic pleasure, and it should not.
Even though the work has never been censored, it accepted negative reviews from conservative British society and numerous critics (Schabel, 2006). When it appeared, nobody would take a messy bed called art as it lacked any skill in creation. The aim of the installation, though, is to demonstrate to the world that everyday life is pure art, and it should not be censored or banned. That is why the government should not ban the arts today when they do not harm anyone physically. Only the audience should decide what they want to contemplate and what they want to call art, not politicians.
My Bed by Tracey Emin is an example of art that is an object of a real-life displayed and then called a piece of art. Anything taken out of reality and bearing a vital message nowadays can be art if it is perceived as art by the audience if it provokes emotions (Padgett, 2019). The Guardian critic Jonathan Jones praised Tracey Emin, saying that “her nudes are explosion of sheer life” (Jones, 2017, para. 7). The impact this work made is that it encouraged people to overcome social taboos and accept new art. Emin accepts her sexuality and vulnerability and shows us how not to be ashamed. The emergence of works of art of this kind proves that we are moving to creative work, aiming to praise our most authentic selves.
References
Emin, T. (1998). My Bed (box frame, mattress, linens, pillows and various objects). Tate, London, United Kingdom. Web.
Jones, J. (2017). My three days at Tracey Emin’s mountain hideaway on the Cote d’Azur. The Guardian. Web.
Padgett, A. (2019). Art: How to view, understand and criticise modern, contemporary and traditional art works. ADP Publishing.
Schnabel, J. (2006). Interview. Tracey Emin. Lehman Maupin.6(1), 102-106. Web.