05.04.–19.05.1996

"In her art, Sarah Lucas does not mince her words, but she doesn't beat about the bush either", a critic once wrote about the work of the artist Sarah Lucas, born 1962 in London. This concisely describes what is essential in Sarah Lucas' artistic objects: a drastic, rude language and precise and concise formulations.

Sarah Lucas may be known to some Portikus visitors by her participation in the group exhibition "Karaoke (Football World Cup) - Georg Herold and guests" in July of 1994, where she showed her sculptures "Au Naturel" and "Bitch" for the first time. In this exhibition at Portikus - her first solo exhibition in Germany - there are also new works to be seen. Sarah Lucas creates rebellious objects from simple, everyday materials and objects such as fruits, discarded furniture, and found articles; objects that possess grotesque and macabre qualities that go beyond pure punch lines and are provocative in a persistent manner. For this, the artist utilises a medium that has a long subversive tradition: collage and assemblage. Sarah Lucas, who studied at Goldsmith's College in London and grew up in the rough working-class neighbourhoods in east London - where she still lives today - intensively investigates social clichés, especially in regard to gender roles and sexual identification. She is influenced and inspired by feminist theory, e.g. Andrea Dworkin's "Pornography" and "Intercourse", but still, it would not go far enough to define her work as "feminist" or "political".

Lucas' artistic approach is unambiguous; her assemblages and collages, however, are ambiguous. In a playful and carefree manner, the artist exposes the ambivalence of our associations and perceptual structures. "...very slight and casual, which I think is important to the work I do. My work is not laboured, it is like a play." (S. Lucas)

Photos: Katrin Schilling