Speculation grows that she could be nominated to become a Tory Peer
Tracey Emin was spotted at 10 Downing Street last week installing one of her text neon pieces. She donated the work titled, “More Passion” which is valued at £250,000, to the Government Art Collection. Sources have revealed it was hung outside of the Terracotta Room on the first floor, at the top of the main staircase an area which also displays a gallery lined with portraits of former PMs. The artwork is Just across the hallway from the Thatcher Study. insiders have said, It is a perfect place to hang the piece as it is quite a dark area of the residence and it brightens up an otherwise dingy space.
Emin is an elected RA who was born 3 July 1963 in Croydon, Surrey. She is an English artist and part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs (Young British Artists). In 1997, her work Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995, a tent appliquéd with names, was shown at Charles Saatchi’s Sensation exhibition held at the Royal Academy in London. The same year, she gained considerable media exposure when she appeared drunk and swearing on a live Channel 4 TV discussion.[1] In 1999, she was a Turner Prize nominee and exhibited My Bed — an installation, consisting of her own unmade dirty bed with used condoms and blood-stained underwear. There has been an ongoing dispute with former boyfriend, artist Billy Childish, particularly over the Stuckism movement, founded in 1999 and named after an insult by her. In 2004, her tent artwork was destroyed in the Momart warehouse fire. In March 2007, Emin was chosen to join the Royal Academy of Arts in London as a Royal Academician. She represented Britain at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Her first major retrospective 20 Years was held in Edinburgh 2008, and toured Europe until 2009. Tracey opened the Turner Contemporary art gallery in Margate with Jools Holland in April 2011. She has been a major supporter of the project from its inception and it has been suggested she will exhibit there in the future. In May Emin’s largest major solo exhibition in a public space was held at Hayward Gallery, London titled Love Is What You Want. Emin’s art takes many different forms of expression including needlework and sculpture, drawing, video and installation, photography and painting.
Last February Emin spoke of how Mr and Mrs Cameron, are among her biggest fans and how she wanted to donate the work to the nation. On a previous visit they showed her where they would like to hang the piece and Emin agreed that it was a suitable place to view the work as it was intended. Tracey has always been a supporter of the Tories. The donation will raise eyebrows in certain circles about her links with the Tories ignite speculation that she could be nominated to become a Tory peer, in the House of Lords. A No10 spokesman said last night: “We are very pleased to be able to showcase British artists to the many visitors from across the world who come to Number 10.”