2001-05-07 - 4:01 p.m.
TRACEY EMIN - RANKO BON ON THE CASE
Ranko's latest email circular follows. Contact him r.bon@reading.ac.uk
HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER (May 2, 2001)
Richard Dorment's review of Tracey Emin's show at Jay Jopling's in The Daily Telegraph today is quite a surprise. In the title, he finds her "older, wiser, and more seductive." More seductive?! One starts rubbing one's eyes as one reads that "she is beginning to look like a real artist at last." Is he talking about the same show I saw a few days ago? He goes as far as to speak about her "coherent artistic vision." Curioser and curioser. By the time one reaches the last paragraph one feels quite giddy. Calling Tracey "a great seductress," he likens her with Cleopatra. Cleopatra?! He resisted the tent and the bed, but… He ends his review with a confession: "I find myself falling for her — I am not going to resist any more." Okay, that explains it!
Addendum (May 3, 2001)
Yesterday evening I glanced through The Times, too. I was stunned to read Richard Cork's review of Tracey's show. "A revelation," he froths at the mouth. "Frailty is the hallmark of Emin's haunting show," he swoons. Frailty?! The other Richard at least invokes seduction, but this one seems to be writing in cold blood. Does this betray a seduction more sinister still? I did not dare look into other newspapers. How many art critics have fallen or about to fall for old Tracey? Will Brian Sewell be among them?
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