Young British Artists
A group of conceptual British artists, mainly born in the 1960s, first gathered together by Damien Hirst in 1988 to take part in an exhibition called Freeze. The phenomenon is also known as ‘Britart’.
Biography
Born
1962
Nationality
English
Birth place
London
Lucas was born in London and studied at Goldsmiths College, London. In the early 1990s she began using the Sunday Sport tabloid newspaper as source material, reproducing pages containing stories about sex scandals and sensationalistic photographs of naked women. In 1993 Lucas founded The Shop in Bethnal Green with Tracey Emin, where the artists sold their own work. Lucas has embraced self-portraiture, using it to challenge gender roles and stereotypes. She also makes objects, in which everyday items stand in for sexual organs. Her work is frequently confrontational but is always tempered with an element of humour and parody.
Glossary terms
Found material
A found object, sometimes known as the French ‘objet trouve’, is an object which is retrieved or bought by an artist for its intriguing or aesthetic properties. Some artists have transformed found objects into works of art, while others have derived inspiration from collected items. Some of the most famous examples include Marcel Duchamp’s ‘readymade’ sculptures and Tony Cragg’s eclectic assemblages.