Thursday, November 30, 2017

Anna Brown reviews Sarah Lucas

Sarah Lucas is an English artist working primarily in photography and collage. She is a known affiliate of Young British Artists, which was a collective that emerged out of the 90s. Lucas is recognized for her frequent use of visual puns and sense of humor, often utilizing various foods and found objects to replace human genitalia. Her unexpected arrangement of familiar objects suggests sexual innuendos with a notable surrealist influence. The dual nature of her work combines sexual objectification and desire with her own image of defiant femininity. Some of her self-portraits can be read as rather androgynous for the way they challenge gender and sexuality stereotypes. Of her self-portrait series, she says:

       I was quite a tomboy when I was growing up, I liked hanging out with a lot of 
       boys, and I sort of got used to their way of talking about sex. And at the same 
       time as thinking it was funny, I suppose I was a bit aware that it also applied to 
       me, and I've always had those two attitudes. I did enjoy it - but at the same time I 
       must have shuddered inwardly, I think.




I was first introduced to Sarah Lucas’ work in my 2-dimensional foundations class, when a classmate referenced her Self Portrait with Fried Eggs in a project. I found her imagery compelling for its “I don’t give a damn” attitude and the rough, defiant nature of her photographic imagery. Lucas also creates sexually charged sculptural work that is humorous and ambiguously lewd.




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