Tracey Emin
Alive in the Cave
2026
2 colour lithograph on Somerset Velvet Warm White 400gsm
81 × 99 cm
Ed. / 50 — Hand Signed and numbered on the front
Location: London, United Kingdom
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About the artwork
Produced in 2026,Alive in the Cave presents an intimate figure through Emin’s loose and economical drawing. Darker passages gather around the body while broad areas of pale paper remain exposed,creating a contrast between enclosure and openness. The handwritten title gives language equal importance to the figure and frames the image as a statement of continued presence.
The stated technique is lithograph on Somerset Velvet paper. It measures approximately 81 × 99 cm. The lithographic process records changes in pressure,broken contours and overlapping gestures without regularizing the original drawing. Large areas of untouched paper remain visible around the marks,allowing the figure or handwritten phrase to retain an exposed and provisional character.
Expert opinion
The cave can be read as shelter,isolation or an interior psychological space. Emin’s emphasis on being “alive” gives the work a note of survival rather than simple confinement. This tension between exposure and endurance is central to the emotional directness of her recent figurative work.
Within Tracey Emin’s wider practice,Alive in the Cave is notable because it retains the hesitation and exposure of private experience within a public edition.
About the artist
Tracey Emin is a British artist born in London in 1963, and associated with the Young British Artists movement that profoundly influenced the art scene in the UK in the nineties. Her largely autobiographical work explores themes of love, sexuality, vulnerability, loss and identity in a wide variety of media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, neon, video, embroidery and installation. She achieved international recognition with emblematic works such as My Bed, presented in 1999 and now a symbol of radical confessional art. Handwritten language, often direct and emotionally charged, is a central element of her practice, particularly in her neon works, which translate intimate statements into luminous messages displayed in public spaces. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy in 2007, Tracey Emin has had major exhibitions in international institutions and her work is included in numerous public and private collections, confirming her essential role in the evolution of contemporary art centered on personal experience and subjectivity.
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