featured-image

A man and woman are depicted having sex on the huge white canvas: their bodies outlined in blood-red lines, faces barely there, legs wrapped over and into each other like a chain puzzle. Above the couple, and merging with them, are the words: “You keep fucking me,” repeated 12 times in horizontal lines. Look at it vertically and at one point it becomes: “You keep fucking you.

” It could only be painted by Tracey Emin – the scratchy primitivism, the intensity of the act, the words. Words have always been important to Emin. The painting is a celebration of carnality, a howl of emotional abuse and a nod to narcissism.



It sums up Emin’s work perfectly. You Keep Fucking Me is one of the highlights of a new exhibition of her paintings, all of them created since her diagnosis with a cancer that should, by rights, have seen her off. Emin says that only 33% of people survive the squamous cell bladder cancer five years after diagnosis.

She is in her fourth year – and in remission. It’s slowed her down in many ways (she is often exhausted), but she is more prolific than ever, determined to paint and live like never before. The exhibition is called By the time you see me there will be nothing left.

It’s a reference to the cancer – there could be nothing left because she has had so many parts cut out to keep her alive, or she may be dead. “I’ve had my urethra removed, a full hysterectomy, lymph nodes, part of my bowel, bladder, urinary tract and half my vagina remov.

Back to Fashion Page