ARTISTS TRACEY EMIN & MARINA ABRAMOVITCH AND MUSICIANS ANTONY AND RUFUS WAINWRIGHT ARE GREAT MODERN PERFORMANCE ARTISTS

In 2008 I saw an excellent Tracey Emin retrospective exhibition in Edinburgh and I remember it having an impact on me at the time but having just seen the Emin Retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in London I now see things more clearly.

I recall, in Edinburgh, being blown away by the brutal honesty of Emin through her art but after the Hayward show I was just as overwhelmed by the realisation of Emin’s status as one of the only truly credible contemporary artists.

In 2009 I went to a talk and show by Marina Abramovitch, the world renowned Performance Artist, at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. The talk was particularly enlightening.

Abramovitch made the point quite persuasively that Performance Art is the only worthwhile form of art and that 2D art such as painting and even 3D art such as sculpture has little merit. Performance art, she explained, included the sort of theatrical acts that she is known for such as her recent 28 day “silent sit in” at MOMA in New York.

Abramovitch also suggested that dance and music were also forms of performance art. And, surprisingly, until I had considered it further, she ranked music as the highest form of performance art. She explained that in her opinion the risk involved in singing ones own songs containing ones own music but especially ones own lyrics sets music apart from any other form of performance art. Of course we are talking about singer songwriter music and not teen pop music.

More reecently I went to a show entitled “The Life and Death of Marina Abramovitch” featuring various theatrical performances by Ambramovitch herself and others and featuring the words and music of Antony (whom I will refer to later). If proof was necessary of Abramovitch’s conclusion in her lecture then this show was it.

I should not have been surprised however as my first love is music and I have very often found myself quite literally overwhelmed by the music I am listening to. I recall the very moments I first heard Dylan singing Sara, Springsteen sing Thunder Road, Neil Young sing After the Gold Rush and many other such occasions. The only time such moments have been improved upon is hearing these songs being performed live as this is a combination of the music and performance. An anology to this is my contention that an autograph is only worth having if the autographer provides it personally to you hence I would never buy an autograph.

So why does music rank so highly. The writer has written the music he or she hopes we like and has written the lyrics which in general express their views on politics, society, relationships, ethics morals and any other such personal views. Even more significantly, however, the lyrics are often very much more personal than just the writers opinions but are often a “bare all, sole searching, expose” of the writers life and feelings.

Rufus Wainwright has just completed 5 nights at the Royal Opera House. 5 different shows on consecutive nights at the same venue featuring different guests and formats is unusual in itself but the most unusual feature was the very personal nature of the shows. The first 2 shows had Rufus recreating Judy Garlands famous Carnegie Hall concert and the last featured Rufus performing songs from Opera. The other 2 shows, that I attended, featured in various combinations his sister Martha, father Loudon, a step sister, a cousin and a brother in law. 

There is little argument that the Wainwrights are the greatest musical family in the history of contemporary music. Neither Rufus or Martha had spoken (very much) with their farther for many years and I assume that the recent death of their mother and Loudon’s ex wife appears to have brought them back together. Furthermore I do not know to what extent Rufus is a self publicist or whether his obvious and self proclaimed love of being in the spotlight is a genuine personality characteristic. That said I found the 2 concerts particularly moving especially the second involving his father and I feel that the concerts were in themselves more than just a gig and were in fact a performance of the life of the Wainwrights.

Through her art Emin reveals her life story and what a life it has been. Furthermore understanding Emin through her art is relatively easy. Emin does not hide herself so deeply that she cannot be found. I am actually now of the opinion that other contemporary artists simply do not reveal anything about themselves or anything else for that matter but simply purport to have done so and allow critics to invent something remotely plausible.

Let’s consider two examples.

In the Video work “Humiliation at the Dance Competition” Emin reveals her humiliation at the hands of the men who used her body for underage sex when she was going through a period in her life as a “slag” (her description of herself) after she had been raped, aged 13, but has the last laugh on them by exposing them as the perverts they are.

In any persons life the question of having or not having, being able to have or not being able to have children comes up and I am sure that for any woman who has had children and even more so for those who have chosen not to even though they can this question becomes all the more acute when they approach the time they can no longer conceive. Emin has chosen not to have children and therefore the several abortions she has had have been particularly traumatic for her, especially as one was done in a “back street clinic” and she nearly dies as a result and she has expressed this through her art.

There is of course the accusation that art can be too self indulgent but in my view it can never be as long as it is delivered with integrity subtlety and I believe that Emin achieves that.

In a similar way Antony and Rufus reveal their very complex and troubled personalities through their music and do so with such honesty and sincerity that it is taken in by the listener with the respect it deserves. I think it is no coincidence that Antony has often enhanced the performance of his music to incorporate some sort of theatre as in his Turning shows in 2006 and his operatic form of concerts over the past 2 years and as previously mentioned he has written the music and lyrics for and performs them in the Marina Abramovitch show.

One rarely reads about Emin’s life in the tabloid press although they did have a go at her “Bed”. Emin’s life story, however, is interesting not because she is a celebrity or because we human’s are generally fascinated by other people’s misadventures but because of the way she reveals herself through her art. She does it in an accessible way yet with subtlety and even humility. She does not patronize the viewer by trying to outwit them or by conning them into believing the work is something more than it appears to be.

Contemporary art is rarely judged by its beauty although its construction can be impressive or visually appealing therefore I believe it must be judged on what its says to the viewer and Emin’s work says a lot. It also speaks in a language that is neither so blatant as to be crude but at the same time it is not too ambiguous as to be overly self indulgent or conceited.

I could just as easily end this synopsis of art talking about an artist like Tracey Emin or Marina Abramovitch or a musician such as Rufus Wainwright or Antony as I believe they are all great artists producing great art with the sole difference being the form in which their art is performed.