2001-04-23 - 12:46 p.m.
TRACEY EMIN DISOWNS PAINTING
Tim Webster wanted to buy a Billy Childish painting in 1982 but couldn't afford the then-going rate of £150, so he settled on a Tracey Emin one instead for £5, because "that was the nearest thing - she was copying him down to the brush stroke."
A few years ago "she tried to buy it back off me... I bumped into her down the [Rochester] flea market. That was the first thing she said to me - have you still got that painting?"
Webster kept the painting until this month, when it raised £3,290 in auction at Christies, more than Webster expected and badly needed after the decline of his business, Aardvark Studios.
Unfortunately, he has not, at the time of writing, received a penny, as Emin is disputing the authenticity of the work.
Billy Childish, her then-boyfriend, comments: "I clearly remember Tracey selling the painting to Tim Webster... and her being very happy with the deal."
Emin has previously expressed displeasure at the prospect of her early work being resold.
