Latest Tracey Emin Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• There are things going on in galleries recently that have shocked me. What I'm going to say is really controversial, but what I find the most provocative is the commerciality of art in general. And the fact that a lot of people have forgotten what the meaning of art is and what the intention behind it is.

  Tracey Emin

  Art, People, Forgotten

  Source: www.harpersbazaar.com

• I've always said if I could own one piece it would be Vermeer's The Love Letter, and if I could put it anywhere it would be in a David Chipperfield building. I'm almost there with the building - Chipperfield is building a new house for me in London. The Vermeer is a long way off.

  Tracey Emin

  Long, House, One Piece

  Source: www.harpersbazaar.com

• When I have an exhibition, I usually arrange it so that if people want to, they can spend two hours there. That way, people who like it don't feel cheated when they go. I want them to walk into the exhibition space and look low and at other levels and angles. The same with emotions. I want them to be emotionally manipulated, to come out feeling something. I want them to laugh, smile, feel sad. Even if they feel angry, that's okay.

  Tracey Emin

  People, Laughing, Feelings

  Source: www.artdesigncafe.com

• Criticism on my works is like this: you've worked hard all of your life, you went to Oxford, and you've done this and that, and you're an art critic. Your job is to unravel the "secret" or whatever, and you come across an entity like me. It's going to piss you off. Because there's no great secret, what you see is what you get, and anyone can understand what I'm doing. So, it's almost like I make this critic-person redundant, just by my attitude, and they resent me for that.

  Tracey Emin

  Art, Attitude, Secret

  Source: www.artdesigncafe.com

• Because of the amount of press attention, people went to see this dirty bed, as if it was a freak show. But when they got there, they saw something else - the bed, stuff on the walls, whatever. For the Tate, it's the highest attendance they ever received for the Turner Prize show. There was a massive queue, and when you got into my bit, you couldn't move.

  Tracey Emin

  Wall, Dirty, Moving

  Source: www.artdesigncafe.com

• I know people went to laugh at my bed and to jeer at it. Still, at least they actually went to see it.

  Tracey Emin

  People, Laughing

  Source: www.artdesigncafe.com

• The reason why I'm popular as an artist in this country is because it suits the psyche of the nation at this time. Ten years ago, my work wouldn't have had any currency, any popularity at all. Before in this country, you had to be accepted. You had to be part of the group. Now it's probably more trendy to have a problem.

  Tracey Emin

  Country, Artist, Problem

  Source: www.artdesigncafe.com

• What's in yesterday's newspaper is today's fish-and-chip paper. If it really affects my life so badly, so personally, then I would do something about it. When it's really out of order, or something possibly detrimental to my family, or I'm driven to such a level that I know that this can be picked up and repeated again, I will just write or e-mail the newspaper editor. So, in the next day's newspaper, it might say, "Tracey Emin says this is factually incorrect."

  Tracey Emin

  Writing, My Family, Driven

  Source: www.artdesigncafe.com

• Someone else who liked what I did might turn around and say, "She's reworking and rethinking everything. She could just be making blankets now, and be a lot wealthier." I'm actually making it difficult for myself. I wouldn't call it re-branding. If I get bored with my work, then other people will - it's that simple. And I'm not gonna get bored with what I'm doing. I'll struggle and fight and do new things to excite myself - and do it in my own sweet way.

  Tracey Emin

  Sweet, Struggle, Fighting

  Source: www.artdesigncafe.com

• I like poor materials. I couldn't see myself making a bronze sculpture - it's not me. I like neon, because it's moving constantly and like drawing. The chemicals going through the neon turns me on really - it's sexy. I like fabrics, but one of the main things with objects is that I really have to love them before I can use them. I have to have the object around me a long time. The little chairs I used in my last White Cube show are ones that my dad bought for me. A sort of a psychometry with objects and things. It's like the pieces I've made are my things.

  Tracey Emin

  Sexy, Dad, Moving

  Source: www.artdesigncafe.com

• I'm totally monogamous when I'm in a relationship, and when I'm not in a relationship, I don't sleep around. So when I'm not with someone, I'm really on my own.

  Tracey Emin

  Sleep, My Own

  Interview with Joan Collins, www.interviewmagazine.com. December 4, 2013.

• If I were really, truly in love with someone who was truly in love with me, then I would get married, but that would be the only reason I'd get married.

  Tracey Emin

  Would Be, Married, Reason

  Interview with Joan Collins, www.interviewmagazine.com. December 4, 2013.

• I've never been married because, first of all, I don't think I've ever seriously been asked by anyone who I wanted to marry. [...] And also I'm monogamous.

  Tracey Emin

  Thinking, Firsts, Married

  Interview with Joan Collins, www.interviewmagazine.com. December 4, 2013.

• For me, being an artist with a high profile is a good thing for art.

  Tracey Emin

  Art, Profile, Good Things

  Interview with Joan Collins, www.interviewmagazine.com. December 4, 2013.

• The people in Miami are so different from anywhere else I've been in America. They're so down to earth, really friendly, and quite self-effacing, with a good sense of humor. I'm not saying other parts of America don't have a sense of humor, but Miami maybe has to have a really good sense of humor for lots of different reasons, and it works. It works for me.

  Tracey Emin

  Self, America, People

  Interview with Joan Collins, www.interviewmagazine.com. December 4, 2013.

• My influences were from Europe from between 1900 and 1945. My favorite artists were Egon Schiele or Edvard Munch. I wasn't interested in contemporary art at all.

  Tracey Emin

  Art, Europe, Influence

  Interview by Joan Collins, www.interviewmagazine.com. December 4, 2013.

• All the people in the late '80s and early '90s were really hell-bent on doing something for themselves, and they wouldn't take no for an answer. There was a lot of determination, and I was definitely part of that way of thinking.

  Tracey Emin

  Determination, Thinking, People

  Interview with Joan Collins, www.interviewmagazine.com. December 4, 2013.