A groundbreaking joint exhibition featuring two prominent British artists, Sarah Lucas and Maggi Hambling, is currently showcasing the dramatic contrast between contemporary conceptual art and traditional painting methods. The show, titled "Ooo La La," presents works by 63-year-old Sarah Lucas, one of the most influential Young British Artists, alongside paintings by 80-year-old Maggi Hambling, representing the older generation of British painters.
Thirty-five years ago, the Young British Artists revolutionized Britain's established art scene with their provocative and unconventional works. Sarah Lucas, considered one of the toughest members of this movement, became famous for her early pieces featuring everyday objects like fried eggs and kebabs as artistic statements. Now, decades later, those controversial works have become part of art history, and Lucas has developed an unlikely friendship with Hambling, one of the last representatives of traditional British painting.
The exhibition demonstrates the mutual respect between these two artists from different generations. Lucas has created "Maggi the Maggi," a loving and heroic portrait of Hambling's face constructed entirely from cigarettes, showing her admiration for Hambling both as an artist and as a woman. Hambling responds with "Sarah at Work," though critics note that like all her paintings in this show, it appears as a chaotic and unfocused work that struggles to match Lucas's precision and wit.
Lucas's latest artistic creations dominate the exhibition space with their bold and provocative presence. Her newest iteration of the Bunny sculptures presents laughable yet tragic creatures that transform the Playboy Bunny concept into absurdly literal interpretations. These works feature balloon-molded breasts, shiny red buttocks positioned in the air, drooping phallic ears, and thin pipe-cleaner legs wearing shoes that appear to be purchased in bulk from adult novelty stores.
The Bunny sculptures create what critics describe as "orgiastic hilarity and aesthetic mayhem," with limbs, eyes, and nipples scattered throughout the installation. These unfortunate figures pose on concrete chairs in positions reminiscent of exclusive adult clubs or male fantasy scenarios. The artwork serves as a monument to internet-driven pornography culture, representing the extreme sexual imagery that dominates online spaces and appeals to certain male audiences.
However, the feminist satirical element represents just one dimension of Lucas's complex artistic vision. The two artists reportedly first met at the famous Colony Room in Soho, London. Interestingly, while Hambling was personally acquainted with the venue's most celebrated regular, Francis Bacon, it is Lucas who deserves artistic comparison with the legendary painter. Her anatomically explicit, sprawling Bunny figures echo the desperation and universal human condition found in Bacon's tortured figures trapped within claustrophobic interior spaces.
The exhibition transforms what initially appears as pornographic imagery into a hellish vision as startling as any of Bacon's most disturbing works. Viewers find themselves laughing initially, then experiencing emotional distress at these provocative sculptures. One particularly striking piece features a cyclops-like female figure curled in a corner, looking pitifully at viewers through her collaged eye while holding a cigarette in a stubby appendage.
Lucas's artistic evolution demonstrates remarkable growth and technical sophistication. In her early career, she mocked traditional sculptural conventions with readymade installations such as "Au Naturel," which used two oranges and a cucumber alongside a tin bucket and melons to represent male and female forms. Now she creates technically challenging sculptural masterpieces like "Ooh La La," which immediately confronts visitors as they enter Sadie Coles HQ gallery.
The centerpiece sculpture "Ooh La La" crouches on a hard, cold chair, glistening in various shades of crimson. This outrageous erotic statue, reminiscent of Allen Jones's controversial works, appears to be made of latex but is actually cast in bronze, then lacquered and painted. This sophisticated manufacturing process allows Lucas to create something as raw and vital as her early readymade pieces while demonstrating advanced artistic craftsmanship.
While some artists from Lucas's generation have abandoned conceptual art or become caricatures of their former selves, Lucas has evolved without betraying her artistic roots. She continues combining art and truth in increasingly stunning ways, using physical extremes and spectacular visual arrangements. One Bunny sculpture collapsed on a chair with arms scattered chaotically and featuring two sets of balloons that could represent either breasts or eyes, demonstrates how Lucas matches Pablo Picasso's artistic vision in her own unique way.
This particular piece appears to be a three-dimensional parody of Picasso's notoriously misogynistic 1929 painting "Large Nude in a Red Armchair," housed in the Musée Picasso. Lucas translates the anguished cry of Picasso's rage-filled portrait of his wife Olga into three-dimensional form, updated with contemporary sexual imagery and cultural references. The two artists connect as fellow experts in exploring perverse yet truthful aspects of human nature, and Lucas maintains her reputation for sharp humor throughout these serious artistic statements.
The exhibition reveals a significant quality gap between the two featured artists that transcends generational differences. Lucas demonstrates precision, wit, and intelligence in every piece, while Hambling's contributions lack these essential qualities. Hambling's first large canvas initially appears impressively wild and turbulent, resembling a semi-abstract collection of moody brushstrokes, but closer examination reveals that the apparent freedom deteriorates into mere confusion and fake energy. This particular work was completed in 2012, years before Hambling's well-publicized accident in which she lost a finger.
Hambling's artistic problems extend beyond her paintings to include her sculptural works, which appear as unfocused and artificial as her two-dimensional pieces. The exhibition resembles an art fair where wildly incompatible artistic styles and quality levels are grouped together, except in this case, the strange juxtaposition results from an emotional connection between the artists rather than commercial considerations.
Despite the uneven artistic quality, the friendship between Lucas and Hambling may have contributed to sustaining Lucas's current period of artistic brilliance. The exhibition continues at Sadie Coles HQ and Frankie Rossi Art Projects in London until January 24, offering visitors an opportunity to witness both the sublime achievements of contemporary British art and the sometimes ridiculous attempts to maintain relevance across generational divides.
