What’s that thing, Sarah Lucas? Part three

As part of CtC’s coverage of the 56th Venice Biennale we are continuing with a series of experimental object descriptions written during the show Sarah Lucas: SITUATION Absolute Beach Man Rubble which ran from the 2nd of October to the 15th of December 2013 at the Whitechapel Gallery, London. Sarah Lucas is currently representing the United Kingdom at the British Pavilion with her installation I SCREAM DADDIO. The third in our series is from Alejandro Ball.

With the word “Monster” written in an outrageous typeface across it, Sarah Lucas’ piece “Monsters (Laid in Japan)” is a compelling piece. A collation of various photos and media publications – its meaning is clear, the mainstream visualisation of females. This aspect is presented even clearer with the adjacent self portrait of the artist, sat with her face obscured by the copy of the Sun Newspaper which she is reading. With the images of nude women smeared throughout it, it provokes the image of the gritty working class culture of the British Isles – one that is obsessed with the sexualisation of the female figure as an item, however with a non-accepting attitude for the women who participate in this exploitation. Dotted throughout the piece are the heroic football figures immortalised by this masculine culture. It is an interesting conceptualisation of this working class world of men. The lusty images of women along side the rhetoric of female slander; hoar, slut, slag – prerequisite view of what a true women is not suppose to be, yet can be used for. It is an interesting perspective that Sarah Lucas portrays – particularly when viewed with the adjacent self-portrait. This is a media portrait, one that while part of everyday life is re-enforced by the news authority – which fundamental cementing this cultural stigmatism.

Alejandro Ball

Feature Image: Sarah Lucas, Monsters (Layed in Japan) (1991,2013)