A new virtual exhibition launched on the 15^th June, courtesy of the White Cube gallery. I Thrive on Solitude showcases the work produced by artist Tracey Emin, during lockdown. Emin came into the public consciousness as part of the YBA (Young British Artist’s) generation of the 90’s, alongside other now household names, such as Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Chris Ofili. She is better known for her controversial installations, like the 1998 artwork ‘My Bed’.

‘My Bed’ consisted of, well, just what is says on the tin – Emin’s own bed, a confessional work recreating the state of her bed after a long period of depression. The sheets are crumpled and slept in, the floor scattered with empty vodka bottles, slippers and underwear, crushed cigarette packs, a snuffed-out candle, condoms and contraceptives, a cuddly toy and Polaroid self-portraits. It caused a stir after being shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1999, and for many marks a turning point in what could be classified as ‘art’.

More recently Emin has worked in the format of large neon artworks, that some might argue belong on a bar front in Soho more than a gallery. You might have seen one of these without even realising, as ‘I Want My Time With You’ hangs prominently in St Pancras International station. The artwork spells out the same amorous words as the title in neon tubing, but retains the calligraphy of Emin’s own familiar scrawl.

During lockdown, however, without teams of people to materialise these conceptions, the artist, like many of us, has turned to good old-fashioned painting. I Thrive on Solitude is, like all Emin’s work, deeply personal and vulnerable. The exhibition consists largely of small, intimate canvases. The colour palette is blue/grey and the paint is applied in a very dry consistency, barely seeming to touch the surface. The marks are delicate, the figures ghostly – as if one gust of wind might blow them away.

These paintings might mark a stark change in output by one of Britain’s most well-known living artists. The combination of reduced access to materials and the slowing down many of us are experiencing during lockdown sees Emin giving what some might consider more preliminary sketches, the respect of individual artworks.

This is possibly a prelude, or an appetiser, to the main event, an exhibition (a real-life one this time) held at the Royal Academy of Art in November entitled The Loneliness of the Soul. This exhibition promises to explore the links between Emin’s work and that of Expressionist Edvard Munch, who has been a long-term inspiration.

In many ways, I Thrive on Solitude is an ode to the artist’s London home, where she is currently locked down and has lived for 20 years. Immortalising the interior spaces that she has spent so much time in, as she prepares for her move to a new home. Emin describes the paintings as a ‘thumbprint of my time being here’, letting the viewers into her home from the comfort of their own.

The blue colour palette one might link to sadness and despair, an association ingrained in the art world since Picasso’s Blue Period. And it is true that Emin has certainly experienced loss during this pandemic (her cousin died of COVID-19). But these are not melancholic artworks, they are quiet celebrations of the simple satisfaction one can experience in a slow domestic life. One that perhaps Emin needed reminding of. Her call for ‘More Solitude’, an artwork she made back in 2014, seems to have been answered – albeit in the least desirable circumstances.

Emin has found solitude, and she is thriving.

The exhibition runs until 20^th August 2020: visit here – https://whitecube.viewingrooms.com/viewing-room/19-tracey-emin-i-thrive-on-solitude/

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