Cristina Lucas
Lucas’s general strategy was described as follows by Katya García Anton in her text on Cristina Lucas in the catalogue for The Real Royal Trip, an exhibition of young Spanish art curated by Harald Szeemann in 2004: The analysis of both vanquished and victorious political thought systems, lies at the heart of the artistic practice of Cristina Lucas. Lucas’ exploration of what could be described as the semiotics of ideology operates through the female body, and is profiled against the backdrop of a habitually male-gendered history. The interrelation between the ‘aesthetics of information’ she engages with, and the link she establishes with gender and political critique, belong to a line of discourse developed by artists such as Martha Rosler in the 1970s.
Cristina Lucas’s originality also lies in the fact that she dares to return to fundamental - ideological - questions on the social impact of art, without avoiding a critique of the discourse on feminism, globalization and oppressive political systems. Cuauhtémoc Medina, a critic, curator and historian who lives and works in Mexico City, comments on Lucas’s approach in his essay Failed Messianism: Lucas’s satirical style is not simple. It owes something to the approach of the old court jester in which humour is only critically effective when ones plays the role of the madcap clown (…). But at the same time, Cristina Lucas interprets cultural and political stereotypes as tedious arguments that dissolve in the barren intent, without any thought process whatsoever, to renew the confederation of innocence, beauty and truth.
Indeed, Lucas’s reaction on debated themes is never without irony. Most of her works can nevertheless be read as sharp statements. She says about her approach: I am interested in the problem of ethics within contemporary aesthetics. For that reason my work jumps freely between different subjects. I try to create an undefined map of the lacunas of existing structures in power, education and art. In my personal confrontation with big themes I cannot avoid that I am a woman. This results in a substantial swift in my view on the cosmology, which is traditionally dominated by the masculine point of view. My interest is to incitate the viewer to choose an ethical position in confrontation with the piece of art, to start thinking on a different way on common truths. In order to enhance this strategy the media I use are suppressive. I select situations and scenarios where the factors are working as they are supposed to, but in an inappropriate way.
Short Biography
Work by Cristina Lucas was selected for the last editions of the biennials of Istanbul, Sao Paulo and Singapore, and for group shows at ao. Musac (Léon), De Appel (Amsterdam), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Mart (Rovereto), Sala Rekalde (Bilbao) and Marco (Vigo).