A Hammer Museum retrospective of the British artist Sarah Lucas entitled "Au Naturel" showcases her playfully provocative explorations of sex. As the title suggests, naked bodies, or at least parts of them will be shown here, some more abstract and some less so. A series called "bunnies" involves panty hose which have been stuffed to resemble women's legs seeming to sprout from office chairs, which also have protrusions that could be bunny ears although they are rather phallic in appearance and seem to be diving toward the crotch of the legs. These creatures are all arranged around and on a "snooker" table (like billiards), and the stockings are colored to match the snooker balls. It somehow manages to be erotic, whimsical, and thoughtful all at the same time. As you try to make sense of it, you can't help but think about the relationship between woman and office chairs, or how women can be seen in the "male gaze" as just crotches and legs, or how this all relates to snooker halls. And what is up with those "bunny ears"? They're clearly phallic, but they also breast-like in some ways. This kind of challenge pervades the show, rich with thoughtful symbolism. In another room, a life-size Christ on the cross is constructed entirely of cigarettes. Christ looks down on a giant plaster phallus mounted atop a pile of car wreckage. The phallus is aimed at a wallpaper print of a woman's midsection wearing only knickers, with a raw chicken suggestively placed. After the initial shock, one might start to think about sexuality, danger, death, and commodification. In this Freudian space, of course, a cigarette is never just a cigarette. It's a cancer stick, it's a phallus, and it's a cliche post-coital pleasure. Of course since Lucas's creatures generally comprise only below-the-neck body parts, they smoke out of other orifices. Wandering through this show might make you smile and might make you a little uncomfortable at the same time, but it's certainly worth engaging with.
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