We can’t believe it’s been nearly a whole year since we sat down for a chat with legendary Milliner Philip Treacy to talk about his incredible take on the iconic BRIT’s statuette for the awards in 2014.

Since 2011 when the ‘blank canvas’ trophy was given its inaugural makeover by fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood, The BRITs have been committed to working with the most innovative and original artists – those who help to inspire the British creatives of the future. The 2014 trophy was designed by acclaimed designer Philip Treacy.

Now the BRIT Awards are proud to reveal the 2015 Award statue, designed by Tracey Emin. Emin has become the fifth British artist to apply her unique creative vision to the iconic BRITs trophy.

On designing the statue, Emin said:
“You want to do it really well. You don’t just want to decorate it, you want to make something that is really Tracey-ish, that is special for the people receiving it.”

There is a quote from Tracey below, and the script on the statue reads: Congratulations on your talent on your life. On Everything you Give to Others. Thank You.

Visionary artist Emin continues the new tradition of rewarding music creativity by the highest level of artistic creativity. Her work has been exhibited all over the world, and she has earned numerous awards and accolades including her appointment by Queen Elizabeth II as Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for her contribution to the visual arts.

Words: Shane Hawkins

The post TRACEY EMIN × BRITS STATUETTE appeared first on Wonderland.

Tracey Emin, The Last Great Adventure is you, 2013

Neon, 29 5/16 x 74 x 1 15/16 in. (74.5 x 188 x 5 cm). © Tracey Emin All rights reserved, DACS 2014

Modern art is by definition challenging, and Tracey Emin’s new exhibition ‘The Last Great Adventure is You’ has, in classic Emin style, garnered both highly sung praise and damning criticism. The first exhibition to be held at the London White Cube gallery in five years, it includes bronze sculptures, gouaches, paintings, large scale embroideries and neon works. As always, Emin’s great and tortuously examined subject matter is herself: nude self-portraits echo the patriarchal Western tradition of the female nude whilst reclaiming the practice for women themselves. Huge canvases with the magnified images of paintings embroidered onto them serve to highlight not only the strength of the artist, but her weaknesses too.  She takes the traditional craft of embroidery, so often associated with ‘women’s work’, and inverts its usage: using it to draw her vulnerably naked body. This is not the first time she has done this, ‘Everyone I have ever slept with 1963-1995’ used embroidery to spell out the names of all those with whom Emin had shared a bed. Again, the piece was about female empowerment, but also betrayed a more tender side to Emin as it included her mother and names of platonic friends. Her work is about all relationships, not just sexual ones with men, and this latest exhibition, whilst at first seemingly about someone else, ‘you’, is in the end all about Emin– it is an exhibition addressed to herself.

The Queen of Controversy does not disappoint. Her work is, as always, one of frank disclosure. In-your-face and sexually provocative, Emin’s voice has always been one that unashamedly calls for her to be noticed. She is a woman of many words and has spoken candidly on subjects ranging from her own traumatic abortions and her self-diagnosed inability to be a mother, to being sacked by the Royal Academy, to her mental health and penchant for partying – showing up drunk at a live TV debate on channel 4 back in 1997, the bad girl of British art told all those present: “I want to phone my Mum, she’s going to be embarrassed by this conversation . . . I don’t give a f**k.” Our mums would have been embarrassed too, but as a confessional artist that’s just her style. Girls, you have to applaud the fact that she had her own used tampons showing in the Tate, and the fearlessness with which she bares her life for all to see (inc. dirty knickers). No matter what you think of Tracey Emin’s art, you cannot help but admire her honesty, her determination, and her success.

Good Red Love 2014. Acrylic on canvas, 8 1/4 x 11 5/8 in. (21 x 29.5 cm), © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2014

So Pretty, 2014. Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 9 15/16 in. (30.5 x 25.2 cm), © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS 2014

Words: Florence Trott.

Photos: Ben Westoby

Courtesy of White Cube.

The post Tracey Emin: The Last Great Adventure is You appeared first on Wonderland.

This September, Wonderland’s “Priceless” issue celebrates all the things that money can’t necessarily buy – specifically: talent, style, taste and supreme luxury. Cover stars Kirsten Dunst and Alexander
Skarsgård take the lead, talking sex, danger, nudity and apocalypse in light of their starring roles in Lars Von Trier’s epic Melancholia. Joining them are rising film talents Jessica Chastain and Emily Browning, as well as a portfolio of young Hollywood stallions shot by renowned LA photographer Paul Jasmin. In music, we profile the world’s most defiantly un-commercial self-made musicians, from exciting new London label Night Slugs to Twitter rap sensation Lil B. In art, we go shopping with Tracey Emin, interview Auto Destructive art legend Gustav Metzger, and tap maverick fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck to recommend some of his personal art heroes. Fashion taps into autumn’s key message: more is never enough, showcasing the season’s lurid skins, dark fetishes and strictly limited pieces. Then there’s commentary from the industry’s finest, including Tom Ford, Margherita Missoni, Peter Marino and Victoire de Castellane.

The Priceless issue is available in all good newsagents and bookshops from August 26 (next week). Until then enjoy the covers.

Photography: Miguel Reveriego
Fashion: Grace Cobb

Photography: Bjarne Jonasson
Fashion: Way Perry

The post Preview: The Priceless Issue appeared first on Wonderland.