Life Exposed

Hi all,

Today's post will be dedicated to the works of two artists, Tracey Emin and Ed Templeton, two artists whose art is strongly autobiographical. In fact, both Emin's and Templeton's pieces are so deeply rooted in their private sphere that they are sometimes more than bewildering. Both of these artist uses such things as love, depression, marriage, hobbies, sickness, and the like as raw material for their pieces. In a sense, they recycle little pieces of their lives as art. Thus, their oeuvre can be considered as a visual journal for their life story. The notoriousness of the result, even in contemporary art terms, is doubtless.

Tracey Emin - My Bed

Infamous for her perplexingly confessional sort of art, Emin created something with "My Bed" that really pushes the envelope. After living through suicidal depression due to relationship problems, she presented her rumpled bed, the visual journal of the rhapsodic emotional phases she went through, as a shockingly personal work of art. The bed is somewhat symbolic, yet, at the same time, it smells like real life to a rather intimidating extent.

The chaotic state of the bed represents the troubled frame of mind of the artist: the sheets are unwashed, there are visible blots of body secretions on them, also, there are clothes and seemingly innocent everyday objects in the bed and on the floor: a pair of bloodstained knickers, bottles of vodka, cigarette packs and fag butts, condoms, polaroids of self-portraits, a pair of slippers, and a fluffy peluche toy. Not only do these articles of despair symbolize an unbalanced mental state but they also give picture about the confusions inside the artist: the boundaries between the womanly and childish traits, as well as the dangerously adultlike objects (condom, alcohol) and the innocent ones (peluche toy) are not clear anymore. The polaroid self-portraits also indicate that the self-image was damaged and fragmented by the tensions she had in her life.

These exclusively personal objects extinguish the intimacy of the artist and they intrude in the intimacy of the audience as well. Everything is painfully sincere and straightforward about this work. It affects all the senses: the detriments and the litter in the bed not only have a visual impression on the viewer but they also suggest and evoke strong odors. The way the state of the bed is presented can be too much for the recipient. However, this abundance of mangy articles is in contrast with the absence of the root cause of the chaos. There's something that's missing here (the beloved man perhaps) whose objects would perhaps bring a balance and some reassurement to this derangement.

Taken as a whole, Emin's My Bed indicates an ars poetica of dirt and rawness which is somehow glorified by the latent emotions that lay under the rumpled surface. As Roberta Smith, an author of the NY Times wrote about the work: "it tells all, all the truths, both awful and wonderful, but mostly awful, about her life." The spontaenity and frankness of My Bed even brought Emin a nomination for the Turner Prize in 1999.


Ed Templeton - Map of the Inner War

Templeton's art, a colorful phenomenon in contemporary art, incorporates photography, digital art, painting, graphics, street art, videos, and sculpture as well. Being well known for his dedication towards professional skateboarding and skateborder lifestyle, the artist is extremely popular among the younger generation. He is particularly well-known for his idiosyncratic skateboard designs. As a public figure, Templeton supports vegetarianism, sport, healthy sexuality, and creativity among many other things.

His works' major characteristic is their openness and frankness. Templeton shows and tells the audience everything, even the things that the viewer wasn't really up for. He forces the recipients in the role of a voyeur: this oeuvre knows no taboos. His photographs give an unvarnished cross section of both his own private life and the crude reality of American people, especially the younger generation. On a personal level, he presents the tough everyday life of skaters: both the glory, the cheerful moments, and the injuries and failures as well. Also, he represents his wife, Deanna, as a totally humane and casual godess. He dares to go as far as exhibiting photographs of the two of them during sexual intercourse. Sexual liberty is a recurring motif in his collage-like images. On a broader level, he addresses current and topical problems of society. He takes sincere and deglorified pictures of the everyday street life of America: he shows the prostitution, poverty, neglect, obesity, the deviant behavior among youth, and the general lack of interest that is out there. The portrait he paints of America isn't a flattering one, however, he does not remain morose. There are several flashes of irony and humor in his photos.

The work that I've chosen from him is called The Map of Inner War, which was also a title of one of his exhibitions in the States. This painting carries significant attributes of his art: it resembles a collage, and the images and the inserted text reinforce each other.
Basically, The Map of Inner War reveals the frustrations of average people owing to the many expectations that society and mainstream social values force on them. On the left side of the painting, there is a little boy who is sitting at school, remaining silent while it is being hammered into his brain that Christianity is the only true religion. Although he has a different opinion ("This is bullshit") he doesn't give voice to his real thoughts. There's a small symbolic image hidden in this part as well: it depicts a washing machine while operating, and an arrow points at the things being washed: a short text says: "My brain."

At the bottom of the painting, there is a woman with a beautiful and voluptuous body, which symbolizes the distorting effect of the media's image of the ideal body on women.
Men's problems are also addressed: on the right side, there's an average middle aged man, who seems frustrated and worried because of his body. There are short texts and arrows which point out the general concerns of men: "pot belly", "receding hairline", "pathetically average penis."
On the top of the painting, there is a harsh contrast between the glamorous and noble connotations of the American flag and American symbols, however, in the background there's a route, a cemetery, and a road sign that says: END. This is not very unusual from Templeton: he often criticizes contemporary America and American utopia in his work.

Good news for Hungarian readers: Ed Templeton has a current exhibition in Budapest called The Cemetery of Reason. The setout can be visited in Ernst Múzeum (Nagymező street 8.) until March 20th.

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