Sarah Lucas & Julian Simmons: Tittipussidad

Sadie Coles HQ is pleased to announce the publication of TITTIPUSSIDAD, a new book documenting Sarah Lucas's odyssey to Mexico last spring. The book has been conceived, designed and edited by Julian Simmons. Encyclopaedic in size and scope, TITTIPUSSIDAD traces Lucas's time in Mexico from a trip to a brick factory in the Valley of Oaxaca (to source bricks to make plinths) to the creation of the sculptures, to their final exhibition at the Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalli. This exhibition marked a significant development in Lucas's art, as her NUD sculptures - stuffed tights twisted into abstract contortions - developed into playful and perverse anthropomorphic characters. Combining the genres of exhibition catalogue, diary, photographic essay and epic poem, TITTIPUSSIDAD unfolds a vivid and nostalgic account of the trip to Mexico. Interleaving colour and black-and-white photographs, Simmons has produced an unparalleled study into the way in which Lucas's life informs and shapes her art. Each chapter focuses on a separate work in a sequence of close-up black-and-white shots in dramatic chiaroscuro, interspersed with images from Mexican streets, bars and houses. The images explore the different figures - huddling or sprawling, with breast-like appendages and bulbous limbs - with an almost pornographic intensity, scrutinising their surface textures and their variously firm and flaccid structures. The book features a series of conversations with Lucas's various friends - interwoven to create a revealing and intimate dialogue with the artist about the making of the series. The tone and typography of the words shifts, taking us from poetic musings to explanations of the works and their titles. From the prologue, which offers an account into the Dada-esque wordplay of Lucas's titles, to the ecclesiastical-style images of the installation at the Museo Diego Rivera, TITTIPUSSIDAD provides an emotive account of a pivotal moment in the artist's life and career.--Press release, http://www.sadiecoles.com/_literature_123620/Sarah_Lucas,_Julian_Simmons_Full_Press_Release.