BY ANNA BURNSIDE
CONTROVERSY queen Tracey Emin returns to Scotland for the first time since 2008.
The artist who shocked the world with an installation of her bed has made a new piece for Jupiter Artland, the outdoor art gallery on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
There are no crumpled sheets, used condoms or vodka bottles this time. Instead a larger than life female figure, in bronze, called I Lay Here For You.
Tracey cast the 20ft metal piece from a clay model she made herself. She then travelled to Scotland to choose the perfect spot, in Jupiter Artland’s beautiful beech wood, to display it.
The artist said the sculpture is about “an expectation of love. Distant memories that become unrequited moments”. She will also show some other new work in the indoor gallery.
It’s a huge coup for Jupiter Artland, which was set up by collectors Nicky and Robert Wilson in 2009. They run the private sculpture park and live in a grand house on the 100-acre site.
I Lay Here For You will join an outdoor display of work by the likes of Angel of the North sculptor Anthony Gormley, Amish Kapoor and Marc Quinn.
Nicky Wilson said: “This new addition to Jupiter Artland’s permanent collection, by Tracey Emin, nestles in the woodland against the backdrop of the unconscious power of our landscape.
“It rests in a peaceful enclave within the woods, a place of shelter and safety surrounded by trees, heightening the intimacy of the work and creating a moment of reflection.”
Tracey Emin’s work is all about how women are seen and I Lay Here For You is no exception.
Statues and paintings of naked women were traditionally made to appeal to what art historians call “the male gaze”. They were idealised and often unrealistic.
Old fashioned sculpture gardens would have naked nymphs cavorting around fountains and marble beauties in the arbour. Emin and other artists of her generation changed that and placing her bronze nude in a scenic outdoor spot underlines that the world is finally moving on.
A Jupiter Artland spokesperson said: “I Lay Here For You presents a radically different view of a woman’s place in nature. She exists on her own terms. Encountering her in the woodland of Jupiter Artland is an arresting experience.
“She is shakingly powerful, yet self-possessed. Oversize, larger than life, but somehow peaceful and vulnerable. This is a vision of nature far from the bucolic, placid norm.”
Jupiter Artland is one of the few galleries in the UK with more women than men in its collection. There are major works by Phyllida Barlow, Cornelia Parker, Rachel Maclean, Joana Vasconcelos, Tania Kovats and Helen Chadwick within the site.
I Lay Here For You opens to the public on May 29. To buy tickets go to www.jupiterartland.org