Tracey Emin: I Can’t Get No Respect

“She is the artist the British public likes to laugh at most. Even Damien Hirst’s infamous pickled sharks and cows are treated with more respect. And yet until now Tracey Emin, the creator of ‘that bed’, has accepted ridicule and contempt as all part of being a famous conceptual artist. No longer. Speaking for the first time about her row with a primary school over the sale of a quilt – a row that has seen her branded as selfish and money-grabbing – Emin reveals she has been deeply upset by the onslaught of criticism. Blame for the unpleasant affair, which at one point came down to a physical tug-of-war, lies with the school, the 40-year-old artist claims.”