Bourgeois painted the male and female profile shapes in a palette of blues and reds using gouache pigment with water on paper which were later translated to fabric.
Upon receiving these watercoloured figures Emin predictably drew her Monoprint’s with statements such as ‘I LOST YOU’ scrawled across the works.
This project is quite disappointing as Emin has just repeated exactly what she has done for the last 10 years just merely on a new backdrop. Everything that was expected of her, she fulfilled. The themes are that of loss, abuse, abortion, sex, self-pity, destruction etc.
Bourgeois’ part was played quite safe with colour and shape and perhaps needed something to push the works forward hence where Emin would come in but unfortunately she didn’t execute anything new or exciting.
A collaboration of two strong, independent female artists and all they could create were pieces which showed hetronormative ideologies of women, how men make them weak, how they should of “loved more”. I am not too sure what to say about Bourgeois input in the final pieces as she only painted the backdrop but I find it hard to see these works as genuine on Emin’s behalf as not much effort has taken place.
The idea of this collaboration is more exciting than the execution.
