Who? Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin.
What? A collaboration between Bourgeois and Emin consisting of sixteen intimate works made over the past two years. Originating with Bourgeois – who painted male and female profile torsos on paper in red, blue and black gouache pigments mixed with water – the fluid silhouettes were then passed on to Emin who overlaid them with her signature illustrations and inscriptions. Beautifully complimenting one another’s work, Emin’s smaller, fantasy figures and handwritten narration delicately engage with Bourgeois’s swollen belly an erect phallus figures – giving way to an incredible joint expression.
Why? Playing reference to themes of identity, sexuality, loss and abandonment this collaborative project was one of the last Bourgeois completed before her death and which she discusses in her final interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist in AnOther Magazine’s A/W10 issue. Bourgeois even included her favourite drawing in the magazine, which was one of her originals from this series.
When? Do Not Abandon Me is exhibiting at Hauser & Wirth, 15 Old Bond Street, London from 18 February – 12 March 2011, before traveling to Hauser & Wirth, Carolina Nitsch Project Room, New York.
Text by Lucia Davies
