It Just Happens
It Just Happens
Signed Print
Tracey Emin
Price data unavailable
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
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Medium: Woodcut
Edition size: 3
Year: 2001
Size: H 212cm x W 141cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Location | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2013 | Christie's London | United Kingdom | |||
| June 2011 | Christie's London | United Kingdom |
Meaning & Analysis
Executed by Tracey Emin in 2001, It Just Happens is a woodcut that was released in a limited print edition of three. Printed with black ink on calico, a gaudy nude figure appears at the centre of the composition. Framing the figure at the top and bottom of the work are explicit sentences written in Emin’s distinctive and confusing style, reading: “DON’T LOOK FOR REVENGE IT JUST HAPPENS // IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT THEN GO AND FUCK YOUR SELF AND DON’T TAKE IT OUT ON ME”.
Characteristically uninhibited and lewd, It Just Happens pictures a nude woman unashamedly confronting the viewer with her rear end. This crude illustration, and the obscene words which accompany it, is printed on calico fabric. Typical of Emin’s oeuvre by mixing textile media with printmaking, she straddles feminine sensuality with her brazen attitude. The punchy and direct words used in the work, some of which are misspelt or written backwards, amplify the emotiveness of the work and give it a sense of urgency.
