The exhibition title (and also the title of one of the paintings) chosen by Simone Lucas for her second solo exhibition with us essentially leads directly to the core themes that Lucas’ work revolves around. Her visual worlds always offer plenty of scope for different interpretations. They are pictorial ideas and pictorial spaces that offer various possibilities. They could be sequences from dreams, but also memories, desires, ideas, or perhaps even fears.

In a certain way, her images manifest a state in the process of image creation. One can follow the development of a story and, as a viewer, participate in the artist’s working process in a certain way. Lucas gives a lot of space to the random and fleeting in her images.

As in her earlier groups of works, the scenes or stories depicted in the images remain enigmatic and linger in a state of limbo. Many of the pictures in this exhibition feature hybrid creatures that are part animal, part human. Not only do these creatures have a long tradition in the visual arts and mythology, but for Simone Lucas they also serve as a reminder of the close interconnection between humans and nature. One of her paintings, in which a woman’s head has been replaced by a frog’s head, is even called “Mother Nature.” We share common ancestors with animals. They are our relatives, and humans are just as much a part of nature as a frog or a toadstool. The artist thus refers to the delicate balance that nature can create for itself and which humans are increasingly endangering and destroying. Especially in view of the current reactionary developments in world politics, which are furthering the destruction of nature and placing selfishness and the right of the strongest above responsibility and balance, the idea of a unity between humans and nature could perhaps be comforting. The artist’s images are playfully/longingly searching for this.

 

.

Opening reception: Saturday, September 6, 6–9 p.m.

Exhibition: September 6–October 25, 2025