Tracey Emin webchat – as it happened

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/live/2014/oct/03/tracey-emin-webchat-white-cube

Version 0 of 1.

12.33pm BST12:33

And that's all for today

Thanks very much to all who posted questions and very special thanks to Tracy for answering so candidly to as many as she could.

I've answered each question as they came. I have not prioritised or decided to answer the ones I liked the look of best, and for the questions I haven't answered, I'm sorry, I simply ran out of time. But I really enjoyed doing this, and in lots of ways the questions are a lot more interesting and stimulating than a lot of questions I get asked in interviews.

12.31pm BST12:31

MrSvejk asks:

Say the first thing that pops into your mind, ramble for me baby.

Unfortunately I've got to wind this up now, as I have the next interview to do. And that really is the first thing that's come into my head.

12.28pm BST12:28

GiannisDrakos asks:

Hi Tracey! I am humbled from being able to post a question for you.

A while ago, during my university years, I linked your career to the likes of Frida Kahlo and Nan Goldin in my dissertation and suggested that the deeply personal and confessional nature of your work (and Kahlo’s and Goldin’s) is derived from the need to nurture and caress your art like nurturing/taking care of a family or a child. Was there any truth to my thesis?

With all respect, it is my belief that you would be an excellent mother. All the best, Giannis

I've never seen any similarities between myself and Nan Goldin. Goldin is for me an artist who makes a graphic brutal diary at times of her life, that's not what I do. I question my life. Frida Kahlo, there are similarities there. Maybe to do with abortion, miscarriages, graphic interpretations of the womb, but it's a visual thing.

Updated at 12.31pm BST

12.27pm BST12:27

browniebabe asks:

Hello Tracey, I’d be interested in your thoughts on Louise Bourgeois, particularly in relation to your collaboration with an artist credited as the originator of confessional art. How did it feel to be part of Bourgeois’s infinitely complex world? Did you find inspiration there? It appears Bourgoise spent her whole life looking for emotional salvation in the form of psychoanalysis, have you ever been tempted to go down that tortuous path yourself?

I've never really been interested in psychoanalysis, I'm much more emotive. And I believe that a lot of the mistakes I make inform me for my future. Louise was very intellectual and academic, very different from myself, her work is still very raw and emotional and she like myself readdresses the same subjects in life again and again, interpreting and reading them in different ways. A constant journey of the self and the mind.

12.23pm BST12:23

ID0990057 says:

Tracey, I am a huge fan of your writing, for me it’s the most important aspect of your work. Will we ever see The Vanishing Lake? If not, will we see another collection of your writing?

The writing is a massive problem because I need solitude and space and time to do it, and I've had a lot of shows over the last five years, eleven shows. And in the odd gaps and spaces I try to write. I have a very exciting opportunity to write my autobiography, which I said I'll do. The Vanishing Lake is difficult because I can only write the book when the lake is not there, and the last couple of years there's been a massive amount of rain in France. Only the other day I spied a waterfall coming from my lake. In my new catalogue for my show that opens this week at White Cube, I've written three stories that accompany the work, so there's at least a little bit. I often fantasise about doing another column, but for anyone who writes weekly, they know there's a lot of pressure involved.

Updated at 12.26pm BST

12.17pm BST12:17

VCronie asks:

Did you find it? Did you find what you had been looking for: that girl, youth, the thing that is lost?

No I haven't found it and I never will, it's gone. I can only find bits and pieces, like a reflection in a pond.

12.16pm BST12:16

scandinerd53 asks:

Hi Tracey,

I read somewhere that you were considering moving to the States permanently. Is this true?

Do you think such a major move would have a significant change on how you approach your art or is your art so personal that location becomes irrelevant.

As a Londoner I would be sad to see you leave permanently.

This is not true. Never has been true, never will be true, so I'm glad you asked me this question. I have a place in New York and Miami, I have a gallery in New York that I show at regularly, Lehmann Maupin. I think the confusion arose when it was publicised that I'd got a place in New York, people jump to conclusions. But I am British and proud.

12.15pm BST12:15

DeLov65 asks:

What guiding principles do you use when you teach drawing at the Royal Academy?

Teaching drawing in general, I try to shake people up and make them more confident about the medium. It's like teaching people how to swim: you have to make them not afraid of the water.

12.15pm BST12:15

Highbury asks:

Now that you’re Professor of Drawing what do you tell your students?

Years ago a sculpture lecturer said “if you can’t draw poperly how are you going to plan a work in 3 dimensions?” I thought ‘phew! Thank heavens I’m doing painting’ and never really learnt to draw ... No bother. But now that I’m much older I realise that I can’t capture a particular expression or gesture. What I want to do has changed and I don’t have the tools.

They sacked me... Michael Landy is now professor of Victorian, it's a two year position, but I do like to walk around the studios and visit the students.

12.14pm BST12:14

JRampage92 asks:

Hi Tracey, in some odd parallel universe... If you could hypothetically choose another form of a creative outlet that was not art, what do you think it would it be?

All the Best,

James

I think I would like to have a small hamlet growing all my own food, where I'll have some llamas, and wear llama wool jerkins. I'll have some wolfhounds that protect me. And live in solitude.

12.11pm BST12:11

liberty4 asks:

Tracey, how do you deal with the ugly souls that persecute and attack you?

I love a good discussion, fighting and justifying your work is great and part of the job. BUT it seems there are some cold, narrow minded people that are just hateful towards you, even when it’s no longer about art. It makes me livid. If you don’t like what Tracey does, go back to your bitter dark hole. Like a bully, retaliation can often fuel a fire. So, what is the best way to handle these people?

I will always root for you!

I get my witch friends to put a curse on them... No seriously, it hurts me, but I just have to get on with it. The worst thing I could do is retaliate because it makes me look really stupid, and afterwards I feel really upset with myself. But people are very cruel. After any review of mine that I read online, I have to be really careful to not scroll back into the comments. Once, when my boyfriend left me and we'd been together for years, it was a Saturday night and I went to sleep on the sofa in tears. And I woke up to hear my name - on the TV there was a programme called The Hundred Most Hated People in Britain. I was number fortysomething. It's this kind of thing that can really knock people over the edge, but luckily I dined out on it.

Updated at 12.11pm BST

12.09pm BST12:09

mirthcontrol says:

By mistake I walked into the “members only” part of the Royal Academy when your drawings of wee birds were on display... Did you like the juxtaposition of all these old dears sitting having tea and cake surrounded by your art??

Yes I loved it. Of course I loved it. And I think they did too.

Updated at 12.10pm BST

12.08pm BST12:08

hopskotch555 asks:

What do you think your occupation would be if you were forbidden from producing art?

It depends what you mean by art. I probably would find it hard to live if I didn't make art, but I'm a survivor so I would probably first be a writer, second an estate agent.

12.06pm BST12:06

aluncrockford asks:

Are you at all concerned that people from a working class background will never have the chance to reach there potential due to a combination of high tuition fees and education establishments turning art colleges into theory based university courses involving a lot of talking and very little doing.

Of course it concerns me. It always has been very difficult to go to university if you come from a poor, hard up background, simply because there's nowhere for you to do your homework when you got home. You might have the mickey taken out of you if you hung out down the library. But I would advise anybody, if you really want to go and you really know what you want to do, get a loan and worry about paying it back afterwards. If you don't get a job, you don't have to pay it back, everyone keep forgetting that. I came from an extremely hard up background, older single parent, and even though there were grants and scholarships available, financing my way through college and university was extremely difficult. So I really feel for students that have to work their way through. But it's worth it. Don't go to university because that's what everyone else is doing, leave it a few years, travel, work abroad, get a job doing anything and save money. Then decide what you want to do at university, don't waste that vital education because it's what can set you up for the rest of your life.

12.05pm BST12:05

texavery asks:

Do you feel you were born a few years too late? Do you think that had you risen during the punk period you may have been able to have had a bigger influence in, say, music, fashion and subsequent artists? Or do you feel that your work is something that should be self indulgent and a enjoyable way of making money?

What the hell does that mean? Your question is a bit all over the place. I was right in the epicentre of punk, in Dreamland in 1977, the great war between the punks and teds. I'm great friends with Vivenne Westwood and the Clash, you can't get more punk than that. And as for the money bit, I think everyone came out of it pretty successfully.

12.01pm BST12:01

noirnoirnoir asks:

When was the last time you spoke to Billy Childish?

I don't really have to answer this because it's private but if you really really want to know, I had tea with him and his mum and family about a month ago in Whitstable.

12.00pm BST12:00

Peephole Circus asks:

For me, the most striking aspect to your work is your honesty. Is this something that gets harder to maintain as you get older or do you find it easier? And does fame impact this? Do you feel the need to give less away as to be able to maintain a private life or have you resigned to the fact your life is public and feel no need to hold back in any way any more?

This is a really good question, because you're questioning my honesty. And sadly, if I give an honest answer, it's yes.

11.59am BST11:59

clapposcillator asks:

Hello Tracey, if you were given unlimited resources and total artistic freedom, what would you do?

NB just renovating & re-opening Dreamland not an option :^)

I like building and architecture. I always said that if I had a daughter, I would dream she would be an architect. To do something which is far beyond my academic or mental capacity. I would like to build bridges and towers. I'm not sure this is absolutely true, now, but there is no history of a woman ever building a bridge. I dream in bridges and towers. I think one day this may be possible.

11.58am BST11:58

Jack Alford asks:

Hey Tracey, some of you work feels like a feminist statement, leaving the head off of women’s bodies and that. Do you think it is important to tackle prejudice through the arts?

I recently did a selfie next to Corbet's Origins of the World. One of my friends said to me: after all this time, finally the body matches up with the head. This opened up a big discussion about Origins of the World, and the fact that it's been damned for so many years because it doesn't have the head of a woman. It has the fecundity and guts, the pubic bone and muscle, an ardent strong sexual form of a woman, not a woman by name but a woman who represents all women. This is how we must start looking at things. When I draw myself or look at myself, I don't rely upon my face for identity, I rely upon all of me, including my soul. The way I walk, including the way my right foot turns in, all these things define my character. Feminism has moved on a lot in the last hundred years and it will keep moving, until one day it doesn't exist and we are all equal.

Updated at 11.58am BST

11.54am BST11:54

Kraig9 asks:

Are you still a Tory?

Oh, how long was it before that question was going to be asked?! Britain is very small-minded when it comes to politics. Are you still a communist, socialist, anarchical syndicalist? Everyone has to have a name, to be pigeonholed. I have not voted Labour for the last two elections but what I vote in the next election is my business. I live in a democracy and I'm proud of that fact. There are people in Sierra Leone who are having their hands chopped off for teaching people how to read – why don't you ask them what they're voting?

I can promise you one thing though – it's not going to be UKIP.

11.53am BST11:53

ID5467716 asks:

I read recently you said Mothers could not be great artists. That the exceptions of parents being great artists were men. Is this is a mis-quote. What about Paula Rego being a mother and a great artist?

Actually, you have misquoted me. It was a very tongue in cheek quote. I said: oh yes, people who have children can be great artists. What are they called? Men. I think it's very difficult to give 100% to any creative process if you have another priority. I've also said in connection with this I've been talking about myself. Throughout history there have been many great female artists and they would also admit that they have never always been the best of mothers. When I say 'great artist' I want you to make a comparison with men, ie Picasso, Rembrandt, Van Gogh. I'm talking about history, not people's personal views on what makes a good artist, but what history dictated. And thank God it's changing.

11.51am BST11:51

Here’s Tracey, all set and ready to answer your questions.

Updated at 12.23pm BST

11.49am BST11:49

Josh Leon asks:

Could you talk about how you go about your process, do you start by working with materials, or words, or ideas, or from inspiration, is there method to how you approach your work, or is it a matter of doing it everyday until the works become clear?

One thing that I don't do is work everyday, creatively. Literally make the stuff. I think that's a rather macho way of going about things. I always start off with the ideas, it could be something I've been pondering about for some time, for example a question like: does love really exist? I'll often start by writing and making drawings on the subject, and as I go through that process, that's where the bigger ideas for work come about. Not everything works in a neon or text piece; certain images would never work in paint or lend themselves to embroidery. The subject matter often speaks to me, and tells me how it would like to be made.

11.47am BST11:47

domhuckbody asks:

Hi, Tracey! I’m an art student currently in the process of writing my personal study about you and your work and was just wondering if you could help me out a little. I apologise in advance if you get asked this question a lot, but I just wanted to know why you make autobiographical and personal work.

I’m a huge fan of you and your work and can’t wait to see the new exhibition at the Whitecube!

Thank you!

Dom Huckbody

I've always believed in the fact you should make work about what you know about. There's still so much more I have to learn about life and living - I'm now entering into the third phase of my life. And it never becomes boring to me. Whether my work is about witnessing, or a simple self-portrait, my life and body seems to continuously change, as does everyone else's - this is something we can all relate to.

11.45am BST11:45

gvorn00 asks:

Tracey, before your success, how did you set yourself up – fund and establish your practice?

Like most artists I went to art school, I did a degree and then an MA. Then I spent a few excruciating years being so broke it was unbelievable. For years I slowly paid back all the money I owed the bank. My big break came working for Southwark council as a youth tutor - I did this for two years. It was evening work, so I had very little social life but I enjoyed doing a part time Birkbeck philosophy course during the day. I think these two years after art school is what really set me up, it was tough. And it made me more confident about what I wanted to do.

11.44am BST11:44

Tracey is now with us

Tracey Emin is now answering your questions. Her first reply was to marosc, who asked:

Hi Tracey. I’ve been a fan of both you and your work for a while. You seem to be more available than other artists of your stature – making appearances at your shop and car boot fairs as well as regularly producing affordable art. Is this part of your ethos as an artist? What do you see as the social role of the artist in the modern world?

All the best,

Martin

For some artists, their work is what's in the foreground. And the reason why they are visual artists is because they're shy. I'm not shy. I see my work as an extension of myself and my personality. Sometimes meeting people face to face changes their perceptions of my work. Hopefully for the better but occasionally, sometimes, not. But I do think I'd be taken a lot more seriously by the greater doyens of the art world if I had less upfront, friendly persona. Everybody likes a great mystery and that's just not me.

10.31am BST10:31

Post your questions for Tracey Emin

Margate’s most famous daughter squinted into the Young British Artist spotlight 20 years ago, with works that were emotionally raw and bracingly honest: an unmade bed, a tent naming everyone she’d slept with, a beach hut she stayed in. Perhaps the gobbiest out of a hardly retiring bunch of YBAs, she became tabloid as well as dinner party fodder – but crucially didn’t lose focus, as she turned her hand to a huge range of media: neon, painting, textiles, films and more.

Some of these forms appear in her new show at the White Cube, opening 8 October, where giant embroidery sits alongside paintings and bronze sculptures, much of it focused on her own body. “I’m trying to work out why my body has changed so much,” she told the Observer’s Rachel Cooke this month. “Where does that girl go? Where does that youth go? That thing that’s lost, where has it gone? I’m looking for it in the pictures; I’m looking for it in the paintbrush.”

To celebrate the launch of this ever-personal work, Emin will answer your questions in a live webchat on Monday 6 October from 11.30am BST onwards – post them in the comments section below, and she will endeavour to answer as many as possible.