Renata Lucas

The starting point in Lucas’ practice is an analysis of the commissioned site, often observing the social information embedded within buildings and particularly, their boundaries. From this detailed observation of her surroundings, she looks to identify characteristics that are out of sight or have been taken for granted. The resulting gesture tends to undo the prevailing rhetoric of this public building. In a street lined on one side by a uniform brick wall, Lucas’ intervention at Gasworks creates a softer deviation, subtly altering the passer-by’s journey. In simplifying the exterior of the building, Lucas’ intervention causes Gasworks’ façade to recede into a less distinct identity; becoming a membrane through which elements of the interior, paradoxically, appear. This intervention acknowledges the episodic nature of a building whose historical shift in use from Victorian warehouse to art space is common throughout London. Previous examples of Lucas’ works include Comum de dois (2002) at Centro de arte mariantonia, São Paulo, which built a single room over the boundaries of two existing rooms. Here Lucas reacted to the labyrinth-like quality of the Centre and its relationship to her work, of being contained and containing. For Atlas (2006) in São Paulo, Lucas responded in literal fashion to a boundary dispute concerning Galeria Antonio Millan and its neighbour. By extending the neighbour’s fencing into the gallery on one side, and creating a parking space and a public walkway on the other, she redesigned how the space was negotiated by its visitors and passers-by.

( Gasworks Gallery)

Video about the artist: Renata Lucas in Ladonia Biennial