Louise Bourgeois / Tracey Emin : Do Not Abandon Me

2 Sep-23 Oct 2011

Overview

The late Louise Bourgeois will be remembered as a founder of confessional art. The joint collection of 16 drawings explores themes of identity, sexuality and the fear of loss and abandonment. Bourgeois began by painting male and female torsos and mixing red, blue and black gouache pigments with water to create delicate silhouettes. Emin used fantasy to draw smaller figures engaged with the torsos, like Lilliputian lovers, enacting the body as desires and anxieties. In many of Emin’s pictures her handwriting accompanies the image as narrative, which puts into words the emotions expressed in Bourgeois’ gouaches.