Crossing Into Darkness

Bold and breathtaking, yet somehow subdued and intimate, Crossing Into Darkness is the most stunning small art show I have seen in a long time. It combines astonishing, and sometimes atypical works, from some of the most important artists you know, with equally important work from artists you have never heard of.

See if you can pick them out, by taking a look at this one-minute video. Best viewed with sound off as there is no soundtrack, and you may find the background noises distracting.

Gormley, Munch, de Goya, Gilbert and George, Louise Bourgeois... not to mention Dame Tracey herself, who curated the exhibition. As breathtaking as it is bold, incorporating many of her favourites, as well as local artists she has nurtured through her own studios and fine art courses.

Walking through the three generously hung and installed galleries was like walking a garden of delicious delight. Even the lighting and the marbled floor were spectacular. I don't remember the last time I saw any de Goya on show, while the Gormley, not recognised by me at first, was not the obvious choice of his work, but one that made perfect sense, if you gave it the time. Not least because the internal detail (I had to kneel down to view it) appeared to be, like his usual work, cast from his own anatomy.

Nothing was out of place and everything had its own place. I found myself delighting in walking round and around the sculptures, and from gallery to gallery. The great thing about sculpture is that it can be viewed from every angle, a truly three-dimensional experience. In this case, one that incorporated the 2D work into the overall spatial extravaganza.

The busts and sculptures perfectly complemented the painting and other two dimensional art. The quirky contemporary reflected the established, and vice versa.

Artists like Edvard Munch made a welcome appearance, in the form of this self-portrait lithograph of 1895. Sadly, this artist’s work seems to have suffered from the meme-ification of The Scream. There is so much more of his work to be seen.

The likes of Munch are paired, seamlessly, by Margate artists such as Dutch painter Joline Kwakkenbos. Her Self-Portrait as a Painter as Lucretia (2025) is a truly remarkable work that pulls no punches, while yet evoking empathy and understanding by her audience.

As the artist says:

“My work is about the plurality of my own identity and how I relate to the world around me. I mainly paint self-portraits, which deal with my childhood, my queer identity and being a 'woman’ ”

The three acquaint etchings by de Goya were, for me, a welcome inclusion, and I can see why there were included with the more modern and contemporary work. This particular drawing, A Caza de Dientez, claims a place in the horror hall of classical de Goya.

Out hunting for teeth: The ground-up teeth of a hanged man were considered efficacious in medicinal sorcery by medieval Spanish peasants, and were therefore much sought after.

There are many other works to delight in this show: Gilbert and George, Louise Bourgeois, Lindsey Mendick, Danielle McKinney, and many more. All completed with this monumental painting by Laura Footes, Baconesque in its animated panorama: Castles and Citadels, 2025.

And, if you are wondering what I mean by Baconesque, check out this detail from the painting…

If this is not a reference to Francis Bacon, I don’t know what is.

The exhibition was indeed a stellar collection, bringing darkness into light, background into foreground, and blending contemporary with classic. But among the stars of this show there was one star that would have made the visit worth it, even had the others not shone. The two works by Emin, not previously known to me, did not disappoint.

Tracey Emin, I am protected, 2025, is fundamentally Emin. Powerful, personal, intimately cosy and an abstraction of her essential humanity and emotional realism.

Tracey Emin, I am Protected, 2025. Foreground: Mark Manders, Monument, 2024.

The other work, I vanished and reappeared, is very much latter-day Emin, grownup Emin, a more mature outlook on a life at the sharp edge of the world of art.

Looking at this, I had the feeling I was looking at a portrait of the Queen, had QEII ever made a self portrait. Given Madonna’s recent visit to this seaport town of Margate, perhaps we should think of our Tracey as being at the centre of a three-queen hand of cards. Madge, Her Madge, and Dame Tracey presiding In the middle.

Crossing Into Darkness until April 12