In the depths of a British winter, Tracey Emin has masterminded a powerful and introspective group exhibition that embraces the seasonal gloom. 'Crossing into Darkness' at the Carl Freedman Gallery in Margate is a generous and eclectic showcase, bringing together established icons and emerging talents in a sombre, yet profoundly open, dialogue.
A Nocturnal Gathering of Artistic Giants
The exhibition is plunged into a carefully conceived nocturnal shadow, a lighting strategy that allows the artworks to emerge from the darkness. Emin places artists she nurtures at her Margate studios shoulder to shoulder with her own heroes. The result is a compelling conversation across generations and mediums, from painting and sculpture to installation and performance art relics.
The journey begins with a haunting concrete waistcoat by Antony Gormley, a body cast that suggests an absent presence. This sets the tone for a room dominated by uneasy portraiture. Edvard Munch's 1895 self-portrait gazes out with a skeletal intensity, while a resident of Emin's studios, Joline Kwakkenbos, presents a striking self-portrait reimagining a historical suicide. The mood deepens with a wailing, stuffed head by Louise Bourgeois, a direct and agonised response to Munch's iconic 'Scream'.
Gothic Horrors and Mythic Power
Some artists lean into a hokey, theatrical gothic. Lindsey Mendick's glazed ceramic busts of zombie women with festering sores blur the line between horror and black comedy. In contrast, painter Laura Footes presents a serious, large-scale allegory critiquing power, complete with a brilliantly rendered Baconian scream.
The exhibition powerfully engages with myth and visceral ritual. A relic from Hermann Nitsch's infamous 'Orgy-Mystery Theatre' performances—a board sketched with lines and real blood—evokes ancient sacrifice. Nearby, Anselm Kiefer presents a hammer and anvil in a vitrine, a sculpture titled 'Thor' that resonates with raw, mythic power. Georg Baselitz's 1967 painting 'Ein Werktätiger' shows a woodcutter seemingly fragmenting under the force of his own axe.
Finding the Uncanny in the Everyday
Not all terrors are confined to myth. Photographer Johnnie Shand Kydd captures eerily beautiful, mist-shrouded landscapes near his Suffolk home, their monochrome stillness holding its own against the more dramatic works. The exhibition culminates with a piece by Gilbert & George that Emin herself describes as reminiscent of 'the gates of hell', their faces twisted amid stark, black branches.
At the heart of the show is Emin's own large new painting, 'I Am Protected'. It depicts a woman curled on a bed with a cowled figure standing over her—a spooky yet, to the artist, protective presence. Emin states the exhibition acknowledges the dark times we live in but also offers solace drawn from her personal experience with cancer. It suggests that hope is found by entering darkness, much like the daily cycle of night leading to a new dawn.
'Crossing into Darkness' is a timely and courageous gathering, asserting that within winter's gloom lies the potential for renewal. The exhibition runs at the Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, until 12 April.
