Tracey Emin quotes:
Media coverage— unity and variety

Have you ever seen an artist stitch quotes through UK media? Nobody does it better than Tracey...

R.J. Preece (ADP)
ADP magazine 1(5): This is the new shit! | Published 16 December 2009

It is a very unusual person indeed who spends three days solid flippings through binder after binder of Tracey Emin’s media coverage. But such was the case last summer for the editor of Art Design Publicity.

In fact, there were so many binders at Tracey Emin’s gallery White Cube, that I had to count them. There were 45 thick ones filled with media gems— this took three days to flip through. There were even 45 additional ones focused on her "mentions"— secondary articles mentioning Tracey in fashion magazines in some way, et cetera, et cetera across diversified media outlets.

After three days though, I couldn’t take anymore and had to give up.

But one of the surprises in my research were the series of pages documenting placements of a "Tracey quote". I recall these started to appear after she was shortlisted for the UK’s Turner Prize, and the media art, I mean, media coverage soared. Tracey says "this" in one newspaper, and it appeared in another newspaper—and then another.

I admit I had never before taken much notice of these, uh, media interventions. And they may not be in searchable indices. How are the quotes distributed to— and selected by— the editors? Does Tracey Emin say all of the quotes herself— or does a PR-oriented copywriter propose them, and she approves them? Or does someone else on Team Emin approve them? These are all mysteries at Art Design Publicity.

But one thing is certain: Tracey Emin— and her team— know how to play Warhol-like unity and variety. To non-art specialists, this means "elements of sameness, but one or more noticeable differences, sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle". For Andy Warhol, this was by changing the color of an element across a multiplied image for example. For Tracey however, newspaper and magazine media across the UK is indeed one of her “canvases”. And when it comes to art in the age of mass media, does anyone give better quotes than Tracey?

Click the four examples (of tens, if not hundreds) showing Tracey Emin playing media unity— and variety— across the UK.

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