15/06/15
Sarah Lucas: I Scream Daddio
British Pavilion, Giardini di Castello, 30122 Venice
9 May – 22 November 2015
Sarah Lucas (b1962) came to prominence in the 90s with the generation of Young British Artists, but it has taken her until now, at the age
of 52, to be invited to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale. Curator
Richard Riley talks to Studio International about why, with a new shift in
her work, this is just the right moment.
The British Pavilion cannot be missed this year at the
Venice Biennale, sending its bright yellow, sunny rays beaming across the
Giardini. As curator Richard Riley notes, you really can’t help but smile when
you see it. Inside, new works by Lucas, built in response to the scale of the
pavilion – some domestic, with domestic objects integrated into the sculptures;
others larger than ever before – contain all the well-known Lucas tropes:
phalluses, the nud, pages from
tabloid newspapers, the toilet and cigarette butts – which, she explains, “are
for titillation mostly. That is, gentle stimulation of a sexual kind”.
Describing
the pavilion as “a bit like a dessert” with the yellow like custard and the
white of the plaster casts like meringue, Lucas offers up lashings of bawdiness
and dry wit. Is this too British for an international audience? Riley, who
considers Lucas to be at the forefront of British art, thinks not.
To watch this interview, please go to: http://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/sarah-lucas-i-scream-daddio-british-pavilion-venice-biennale-curator-richard-riley