Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Sarah Lucas the 50 year old British Artist who emerged as part of the generation of Young British Artists during the 1990s. Lucas’s works frequently employs visual puns and bawdy humour, includes photography, collage and found objects. Lucas has been profiled by Christina Patterson for the Independent titled ‘Sarah Lucas: A Young British Artist grows up and speaks out’. Patterson states in the article “[Lucas] says, “never been someone for make-up”. She has, in fact, had “fun” not “using her femininity” because “people find it so odd”. At the Groucho club, where the YBAs used to hang out, she’d stare at the women “in their summer dresses and perfume, flirting with men”, and enjoy the fact that she wasn’t. “You realise,” she says, “that you’ve got some other charisma.”You can say that again. It’s quite rare to meet a heterosexual woman who’s making no attempt at all to make herself attractive to men, but who – how shall I put this? – radiates sex. But it’s also quite hard to think of an artist whose work is so much about it. …This is what Sarah Lucas does. She takes… “ordinary things” …and she does something to them that can actually make you blush. She doesn’t just take ordinary objects and say they’re art. Quite a lot of the YBAs, and the people they have influenced, do. They seem to think that if you say something’s art it’s art, and if you say something’s shocking, it is. They seem to forget that the person to decide whether something’s shocking, or powerful, or moving, isn’t the person who made it.”

Inspired by Christina Patterson ow.ly/d0GVb image source Facebook ow.ly/d0Hzc

I am aware of where I am (June 1st 2012)

Tracey Karima Emin the 48 year old British artist, part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs (Young British Artists), has been featured by novelist Jeanette Winterson in The Independent under the title ‘The evolution of Tracey Emin’. Winterson states from a discussion with Emin, ““Wherever I am, I am aware of where I am, and the me that is in the where I am. So I am always a little bit outside of anywhere, and wondering about it.” But Tracey, what happens when the iconoclast becomes an icon? “I’m a role model, yeah, but that doesn’t mean I belong.” But doesn’t fame and fortune put you in the elite, not the outsiders? …Warhol began the idea of artist as artwork. At its most corrupt it has become celebrity culture where making news is a much more important activity than making anything worthwhile. It is vacuity and spin. Tracey Emin does make things; she has made a lot of things, and recently in her continual re-visions of hand and eye, body and brain, her work has suffered a sea-change into something rich and strange. The ugly feral shock of My Bed. The defiant beauty of the blue nudes. It’s all Tracey Emin – she can see that. Look at her.”

Inspired by Jeanette Winterson ow.ly/b9qEf image source Tyrenius ow.ly/b9pQW

Give the building a bit of an edge (September 8th)

Tracey Karima Emin the 48 year old UK artist of the YBA grouping (Young British Artists), Venice Biennale representative and Turner Prize nominee, has installed a neon artwork at Number 10 Downing Street after being invited to create a work by PM David Cameron. The neon artwork installed outside the Terracotta Room, on the first floor of the prime minister’s official residence, is a sign that reads “More Passion” has been donated by Emin to the UK government’s art collection. Emin a supporter of the current Conservative Party under David Cameron, came to fame at the Charles Saatchi’s Sensation exhibition with her 1997 piece ‘Everyone I have ever slept with 1963-1995’. The Terracotta Room is generally used for hospitality purposes, is visible when climbing the Number 10’s main staircase.

Inspired by Jill Lawless http://ow.ly/6fhLn image source Piers Allardyce http://ow.ly/6fhUb

Tacita Dean the 46 year old UK visual artist referred as one of the Young British Artists (YBA’s), now living and working since 2000 in Berlin Germany and internationally renowned for her film installations along with closely related photographic and sound recordings, is preparing to unveil new work at the Tate Modern’s ‘Turbine Hall’. Dean’s new work is a commission for the Unilever annual series that attracts millions of visitors each year as iconic artists are commissioned to utilize the cavernous public space. Dean has exhibited worldwide, in biennials and in numerous group exhibitions and is best known for her work in 16mm film although utilizing a variety of media. Her film work is said to have a contemplative atmosphere through the combination of long takes and steady camera angles.

Inspired by Helen Young Chang http://ow.ly/5wMlN image source Falmouth Convention http://ow.ly/5wMl9