Tracey Emin Analysis.

A particular art work by Emin  - an English artist born in 1963 who's most famous pieces include 'The Bed' and 'Everyone I Ever Slept With' (both installation art created with normal objects used quite randomly), caught my eye because of the subject matter involving mess in a random place which I could link with the idea of taking photographs of broken items like Paiement did which I plan to include in my second film. 'My Bed' created in 1998 and short listed in the Tate Modern Gallery in London in 1999 for the annual Turner Prize is a bed which involves a lot of symbolic items. It is a life size installation of an actual bed, the sheets are messed up and stained with menstrual period blood, covered in condoms, a pair of knickers and a pair of slippers, down the side of the bed I see a stall, a bin, rubbish, money and alcohol bottles. The theme is realism in a sense of the content going deeper - she shows us everyday things/items which we tend to keep secret or not want to discuss which is why it comes as such a shock to us. It is treated realistically but also exaggerated in a sense that not all of these items would be in the bed at once, some of them do not even typically belong in a bed, some of them might just represent thoughts before bed or the things we hold most close to us like money. There is no action taking place but my all of these objects we can see that human activity has taken place and that it could take place again because a bed is where someone will typically sleep every night.

The piece has been framed here so that we can see all of the items clearly, the framing is important because even though it is an installation piece and the idea is to actual stand next to it and see it for itself, the framing captures the features of it to show it off in magasines and online ect. and give it the value it deserves a a piece rather than hiding parts if it. it also shows the fact it is a life size bed installation and that it has been taken out of a normal bedroom and is on display by itself without other room furniture and necessities. Shapes I noticed are small squares with it geometrically together as the money bunches and tissues on the floor and then there are distorted squares which are seen from a tilted angle - the rug on the floor and the surface of the bed. The pattern is random and consists of mess everywhere and lots of creases shown on small and large levels, the colour is very plain but the rug stands out from this drawing you to the items all over it first because of the busy and bright look of it which contrast the plain and almost empty sheets. The arrangement of the picture is strange because although it represents reality and normal objects it is presented unrealistically because of how everything it gathered into one place but because this is clearly the point to make over all the things people do and think in bed it works well.

The photograph has been planned and so has the installation itself. The objects needed to be gathered and placed appropriately, the stains needed to be made to emphasise on the subject matter and the bed itself needed to be used. The image and installation itself isn't enhanced, it has been kept the exact way it is, no camera effects have been used and they haven't been needed because of the idea being an installation not just a photograph, digital technology, a DSLR camera has been used to photograph the piece.

The work effects you because you start by feeling shocked at the items you see, the knickers and condom - you wonder aren't they meant to be kept private? The same with the stains and the general mess but then your reaction changes when you realise it is just the norm and when put into reality is isn't anything unusual at all. I like the work because of this mood it creates and the meaning behind it, I feel that it has inspired me because of the mess involved and how I can link it with Paiement's work and combine the two in my own photographs.