Love stone: Tracey Emin embraces marriage at Art Basel Hong Kong
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

There’s been much furor ahead of Tracey Emin’s latest exhibition, ‘I Cried Because I Love You’, not least because it is her first solo venture in greater China – and rumoured to be her last before she embarks on a yearlong sabbatical. Opened this week to coincide with Art Basel fair in Hong Kong, the frenzy surrounding the British artist’s major new show might only be overshadowed by the startling revelation she married a large, ancient stone in her garden in southern France last summer.
Spread over White Cube and Lehmann Maupin galleries in Central, the exhibition brings together older pieces alongside new paintings, drawings, embroideries and neon works. A narrative centred on her impromptu union (wearing her father’s funeral shroud in lieu of a wedding dress, no less) threads the duet of shows – fittingly, two become one.
‘It’s about me being able to not have to define myself within a gallery, within a space, within a country,’ she explains in the exhibition catalogue to Carl Freedman. ‘I can just make my work and show it, that’s what’s important to me.’ To wit, the show is typically Emin: unabashedly confessional in its nude drawings of splayed female figures; yearning words scrawled in light and across canvases; and raw, explosive brushstrokes.
Emin doesn’t deviate far from the artist we know, yet, her new works seem bolstered by a newfound sense of self-acceptance, perhaps the result of her recent union. ‘You can find people to have sex with, but, you know, loving them is something else,’ she said. The marriage to the stone (it’s not a rock, Emin insists) is a metaphor about the longing to be with someone and the stability that comes with enduring love.
‘It’s my life. I think I’ve cried over more people that I love than people that I hate. I don’t think I’ve really hated hardly anyone,’ she has said. ‘I think my big mistake is loving people too much.’ However droll Emin is, the more she chastises journalists (opens in new tab), the bitterer her acerbic tongue becomes: the more we try to love her.
Spread over White Cube (installation view pictured) and Lehmann Maupin galleries in Central, the exhibition brings together older pieces alongside new paintings, drawings, embroideries and neon works. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of White Cube.
All I want is You, 2015. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin and White Cube.
Some of the works in the show were in part inspird by her impromptu wedding cermony to a stone in her garden in the south of France last year. Pictured: Spending time with you, 2015. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin and White Cube.
Emin’s union with the stone becomes a metaphor for stability and enduring love. Pictured: Hurt heart, 2015. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin and White Cube.
‘It’s about me being able to not have to define myself within a gallery, within a space, within a country,’ she explained. Pictured: installation view at White Cube. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of White Cube.
I love you, 2015. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin and White Cube.
The exhibition takes it name from a new neon work, ’I Cried Because I Love You’, 2016. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin and White Cube.
A narrative centred on her impromptu marriage threads the duet of shows. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin and White Cube.
Another love story, 2011-2015. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin and White Cube.
Installation view of ’I Cried Because I Love You’ at Lehmann Maupin gallery. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin and White Cube.
Waiting for Morning, 2015. © Tracey Emin. Courtesy of Lehmann Maupin and White Cube.
INFORMATION
‘I Cried Because I Love You’ runs until 21 May across White Cube and Lehmann Maupin galleries. For more information visit the White Cube website (opens in new tab)
ADDRESS
Lehmann Maupin
4/F, Pedder Building
12 Pedder Street
White Cube
50 Connaught Road
VIEW GOOGLE MAPS (opens in new tab)
-
The Sydney Modern store by Akin Atelier inspires us to go shopping
The Sydney Modern store by Akin Atelier blends ethereal qualities with colour in a purpose designed shopping hub installation
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Molteni&C presents its first outdoor furniture collection
Molteni&C translates its signature craftsmanship and style for outdoor living
By Simon Mills • Published
-
The globe-trotting Cruise 2024 shows: what to expect
Everything you need to know about the upcoming Cruise 2024 shows, which see fashion brands jetting around the world, from Seoul to Los Angeles
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Art Basel Hong Kong 2023: can the city’s art scene bounce back?
Art Basel Hong Kong 2023 is about to kick off following years of restrictions. Catherine Shaw explores what we can expect in and around this year’s fair (23-25 March 2023), and whether Hong Kong can bounce back to reclaim the title of ‘Asia’s art hub’
By Catherine Shaw • Published
-
Supergraphics pioneer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon: ‘Sure, make things big – anything is possible'
94-year-old graphic designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon talks radical typography, motherhood, and her cool welcome for St Moritz
By Jessica Klingelfuss • Published
-
Fluffy bunnies meet office politics in Nicolas Haeni’s photo series
To mark the Year of the Rabbit, we return down the rabbit hole of Swiss photographer Nicolas Haeni’s photography series, where mischievous bunnies infiltrate the humdrum of corporate life
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
The most surreal moments in Art Basel history, from taped bananas to wealth-ranking ATMs
As a wealth-ranking ATM stole hearts and headlines at Art Basel Miami 2022, we look back on the most controversial moments in the history of Art Basel
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Miami Art Week 2022: your guide to the 6 best shows in town
As Miami Art Week 2022 enters full swing, explore our preview guide to the highlights, from Art Basel Miami Beach 2022 art fair to the best exhibitions and events
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
Alicja Kwade’s installation ‘brings the stars down’ onto Place Vendôme
Polish-German artist Alicja Kwade has adorned Place Vendôme with an interactive installation comprising natural stone spheres and concrete stairs, as part of the Paris+ par Art Basel ‘Sites’ project
By Flora Vesterberg • Last updated
-
Step inside the kaleidoscopic universe of Pipilotti Rist
Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist, who headlines Wallpaper’s November 2022 issue, has transformed the way we see, with a poetic yet playful practice spanning three decades. Here, and in a special portfolio, she reveals how she has liberated video art from its conventions, imbued the digital realm with emotion, animated public spaces, and harnessed the healing powers of colour
By Jessica Klingelfuss • Last updated
-
Olivia Arthur on expanding photography and minimising preconceptions
‘Through the lens’ is our monthly series that spotlights photographers who are Wallpaper* contributors. Here we explore the vision of Magnum photographer Olivia Arthur
By Sophie Gladstone • Last updated