Lucas, Sarah
To make 'Willy', Sarah Lucas glued Marlboro Lights cigarettes onto the surface of a plastic garden gnome. The combination of innocent ornament, sexual title and harmful cigarettes conveys a dark humour. 'Willy' was one of three gnomes that Lucas made for her 'Fag Show' at Sadie Coles HQ, London in 2000: the other two gnomes are called 'Nobby' and 'Dicky'. At the time of making these works, Lucas had just given up smoking. The painstaking application of cigarettes onto the gnomes appears to have provided a welcome distraction from her cravings.
Sarah Lucas often uses everyday objects in her work to convey themes of sex and death. She rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one of the so-called young British artists ('YBA's'). The confrontational nature of her work earned her a 'bad-girl' image; nevertheless, Lucas's work often conveys a moral stance. All of the cigarette sculptures carry health warnings, to be found on each of the cigarette papers.
Natalie Rudd
- Artwork Details: 86 x 42 x 34cm
- Edition:
- Material description: plastic, tobacco, paper and glue
- Credit line: © the artist, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London
- Theme:
- Medium:
- Accession number: ACC8/2002