Lucy Sparrow (born 8 July 1986) is a contemporary artist originating from

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. She works at the intersection of contemporary art and craft setting the agenda for textiles within the urban art scene. She works mainly with

felt Felt is a textile that is produced by matting, condensing, and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic fiber, acrylic or acrylonitrile or ...

and

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

, creating life-sized replicas in addition to oversized soft versions of existing objects. Her work often features the SSRI prescription drug

Prozac Fluoxetine, sold under the brand name Prozac, among others, is an antidepressant medication of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class used for the treatment of major depressive disorder, anxiety, obsessive–compulsive disor ...

and often features Sparrow's interpretations of the

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

environment, the intricacies of

product branding In marketing, product naming is the discipline of deciding what a product will be called, and is very similar in concept and approach to the process of deciding on a name for a company or organization. Product naming is considered a critical pa ...

throughout the modern era and her full-sized representations of

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

s. In the early stages of her career, Sparrow was involved in a number of notable group shows in the UK. She was a contributor to the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

2013 travelling street art collection alongside

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive ep ...

Blek le Rat Blek le Rat (; born Xavier Prou, 1952) is a French graffiti artist. He was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and has been described as the "Father of stencil graffiti". Early life Xavier Prou was born on 15 November 1951 in Boulogne- ...

Jamie Hewlett Jamie Christopher Hewlett (born 3 April 1968) is a British comic book artist and illustrator. He is the co-creator of the comic book ''Tank Girl'' with Alan Martin (writer), Alan Martin and the virtual band Gorillaz, alongside Blur (band), Blur ...

, Pure Evil,

D*Face Dean Stockton, better known by his alias D*Face, is an English multimedia street artist who uses spray paint, stickers, posters, and stencils. D*Face grew up in London and had a childhood interest in graffiti in drawing. He credits this to Henry ...

and urban illustrator Oh Jiwon. Her first solo show at Hoxton Gallery was ''Imitation'', which recreated famous artworks out of

, including a shark in a tank by

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

. Following from her participation in group shows, Sparrow launched her first UK solo show in 2014 before moving on to release her first international solo show, ''8 'till Late'' in 2017 in

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Since 2017, Sparrow has continued to exhibit globally across America and Asia in addition to the UK.

Solo Shows

The Cornershop

In 2014, Sparrow created a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign to fund her first major exhibition. ''The Cornershop'' was a soft sculpture recreation of a British newsagent's installed in a derelict cornershop in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. According to news sources, it took Sparrow and her assistant seven months and 300 sq. metres of felt to create the 4,000 items on display.

The Warmongery

Following from ''The Cornershop'', Sparrow created ''The Warmongery'' shop in

Boxpark Boxpark is a food and retail park made out of refitted shipping containers in Britain. It was founded by Roger Wade, who described it as the "world's first pop-up mall". The first Boxpark was launched in Shoreditch in 2011, another was built ...

, located in Bethnall Green,

. Lucy stated that "The aim of Warmongery is to draw people’s attention to what drives a few individuals to stockpile weapons and to ask why people are growing up in a world where a tiny minority feel so stressed and frustrated that they want to kill people.". ''The Warmongery'' ran for 10 days in total.

Madame Roxy's Erotic Emporium

In 2015, Lucy Sparrow made an installation of a sex shop in London's

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

, saying that her inspiration for the work was her five years working as a stripper in a nightclub in London, and that she wished to make people question the increasing suppression of some sexual practices in British law such as use of sex toys and contraception, and the

gentrification Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

of Soho. The exhibition was called ''Madame Roxy's Erotic Emporium'' and included pornographic magazines, whips, toys and jars full of STIs.

8 'till Late

In June 2017, Sparrow installed a

replica of a bodega in

The Standard, High Line The Standard, High Line, formerly The Standard, is an 18-story luxury boutique hotel located at 848 Washington Street between West 13th and Little West 12th Streets in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan, New York City. It stands above st ...

hotel in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. ''8 'till Late'' opened on June 5 and featured 9,000 items. The show was an instant success, requiring Sparrow to temporarily close the show after 7 days to restock. The show was intended to run for 4 weeks but was again forced to close 9 days early following a sell-out of all pieces.

Sparrow Mart

In August 2018, Sparrow released ''Sparrow Mart'', a life-sized replica of a supermarket. The supermarket represented Sparrows fifth major art installation and was built within

The Standard The Standard may refer to: Entertainment * The Standard (band), an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon * ''The Standard'' (novel), a 1934 novel by the Austrian writer Alexander Lernet-Holenia * ''The Standard'' (Tommy Flanagan album), 1980 * ...

, a hotel in Downtown LA. ''Sparrow Mart'' featured 31,000 felt grocery items and covered over 2,800 square feet of retail space.

Lucy Sparrow's Felt Art Imaginarium

In July 2019, Sparrow created ''Lucy Sparrow's Felt Art Imaginarium'' at M WOODS museum in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. This show featured 70 items remade from Sparrows chosen medium,

. The show opened on July 6, 2019, and remained open until October 7, 2019. Sparrow created full-size versions of masterpieces from

Michelangelo's David ''David'' is a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance sculpture in marble created from 1501 to 1504 by Michelangelo. With a height of , the ''David'' was the first colossal marble statue made in the High Renaissance, and since classical antiquity, a ...

and da Vinci's Mona Lisa to Damien Hirst's shark in formaldehyde and Andy Warhol's

Campbell's soup cans ''Campbell's Soup Cans'' (sometimes referred to as ''32 Campbell's Soup Cans'') is a Visual arts, work of art produced between November 1961 and June 1962 by the American artist Andy Warhol. It consists of thirty-two canvases, each measuri ...

. Sparrow spent 9 months creating the show which spanned 14 rooms within the museum.

Sixth Avenue Delicatessen

in October 2019 Sparrow reprised her

run with the ''Sixth Avenue Delicatessen'' show, which ran from October 1 until October 20, 2019. The show was hosted at the

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 14 original Art De ...

Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue, also known as Avenue of the Americas, is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The avenue is commercial for much of its length, and traffic runs northbound, or uptown. Sixth Avenue begins four blocks b ...

where she offered some thirty thousand felt replications of perishable food items for sale. ''Sixth Avenue Delicatessen'' featured a run of 30,000 felt items created by Sparrow. The show was organised by the

Art Production Fund Art Production Fund (APF) is a non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, U.S. tax code that presents public art throughout the United States. It was founded in 2000 by Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen. ...

and ran for a total of 3 weeks.

The Bourdon Street Chemist

The show was located within the Lyndsey Ingram gallery in

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and ran from April 19 to May 8, 2021.

References

External links

* - Official Lucy Sparrow Webpage {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrow, Lucy Living people 1986 births English artists 20th-century English painters 21st-century English painters Artists from Bath, Somerset