Poster Girl

I COULDN’T resist a cynical smile when I saw a 2012 edition of New Statesman magazine discussing Tracy Emin's reaction to vintage Olympic posters. I can't decide who is more dislikeable, a journal with its roots in the Fabian Society and control freaks like Sidney and Beatrice Webb or a woman whose art is to the eye what excrement is to the sole of the shoe. In Emin's words, her Olympic poster design aimed to be different to those of bygone years “because they look a bit fascist, to be honest”. The thing I found really amusing, however, is the New Statement's inadvertently patronising headline: "Tracey Emin's observation that vintage Olympic posters look a bit fascist is cannier than she know[s]". Yes, Tracy, have a great big pat on the back for stating what every stereotypical leftist has always wanted to say about an event that predates fascism by thousands of years.