FOCUSSatire to Admire 
Multi-media artist Lucy Bryant has found inspiration in the dark corners of 2020. From Selfish Steve the panic-buyer to The Masked Lady, Bryant’s social commentary on the best and worst aspects of British society is a joy to behold‘Weirdly the past six months have been a very inspirational time for me,’ says Lucy Bryant, the south London-based artist aka Haus of Lucy, known for her culturally piquant artworks reflective of the world around her. ‘I have woken up most days with a new idea. I am finding inspiration everywhere, which is incredible because I’m not really going anywhere.’

With the addition of zeitgeisty props and digital signs, Bryant breathes new life into unloved and kitsch ceramic figurines sourced at car boot fairs and charity shops, as well as classical portraits and landscapes found online.

Using her background in graphic design, she sets about adding digital artworks, such as an easyJet plane or Tesco Metro signage, onto the pictures, giving them new relevance. Her figurines receive new painted clothing and props made from FIMO clay, polymer clay or resin.

Bryant’s work serves as a running commentary on the shortcomings and foibles of British society; a satire on the New Normal.
Almost every Haus of Lucy piece created since March has been somehow influenced by the pandemic. Does it feel cathartic, the art equivalent of having a rant? ‘Absolutely yes!’ she says.

The Antoinette figurine reflects the Working From Home era, surrounded by her bottle of Echo Falls wine, Maltesers and seemingly innocent laptop. ‘She’s probably meant to be doing some spreadsheet,’ Bryant explains. ‘But she’s got all her snacks and she’s having a cheeky little look at Pornhub. I’m sure there are people out there who can identify with being distracted, perhaps not by Pornhub but by something else they shouldn’t really be looking at.’

The Quiz Night figurine replicates Bryant’s own experience of the Thursday night virtual pub quiz on YouTube, surrounded by snacks and drinks. The Masked Lady portrait and matching plate were created out of a desire to capture this moment in time and donate a percentage of sales to the NHS.

In this vein, Bryant, who was unable to attend the Black Lives Matter protests due to her shielding husband, continues to create a number of Black Lives Matter artworks with 100 per cent of profits donated to the movement.
Of late, Bryant has had no shortage of moments and cultural behaviours ‘to spark off creatively’ from the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement to the climate crisis and consumerism. ‘I’m always influenced by things around me anyway. It has opened up a whole new world of things to tap into.’ She reads BBC News online daily with occasional wanderings over to ‘the side bar of shame on the Daily Mail, which makes me so cross’.

Half of her work is inspired this way, while the other half is commissioned by private clients and brands including Adidas and Footlocker. Alan Carr and Mark Ronson are recent collectors of her work.

Bryant’s panic-buying shopper, Selfish Steve, who sits at home surrounded by his haul, belonged to a series of figurines Bryant made in the weeks leading up to lockdown. ‘I felt really conflicted,’ she says, ‘because on one hand I thought it was abhorrent and selfish but on the other I understood why people wanted to protect themselves and their families.’

In an ironic twist of fate, Steve and his fellow figurine comrades sold out instantly on Instagram, where Bryant showcases her work, alongside various galleries. The panic-buying shoppers subsequently enjoyed made-to-order fame.
 She describes the Black Lives Matter crying artist figurine, which sold for £500, as a ‘simple one that had a lot of impact’. She added the tear, the easel, sign and black paint to her brush, palette and cheek. BLM is a subject she still feels passionately about: ‘In the past couple of days I have heard reference to the death of George Floyd twice in the media and I think it needs to be re-framed as the murder of George Floyd because that’s what actually happened. I think it’s been slightly diluted.’‘I THINK THIS TIME
HAS TAUGHT US TO
VALUE THINGS SUCH AS FAMILIES AND FRIENDS MORE, AND FOCUS LESS
ON CONSUMERISM’Bryant is cautiously optimistic about the collective refocusing of what is important in life. ‘I think this time has taught us to value different things such as families, friends, our connections more highly and focus less on consumerism. I hope that people’s values are shifting, but I don’t know if that will be a permanent thing.’ Whether or not it is human nature to move on and forget the learnings of this period of reflection is yet to be decided.

At home in south London, the past six months have been a time for personal reflection on how to use her voice and art in a more political way. The 48-year old wants to recover the hunger for change she felt so keenly in her younger days. In recent years Bryant admits to becoming more complacent, even holding back her strong opinions for fear of causing offence. ‘I know as an artist I shouldn’t care’, she says, and going forward she wants to make bolder statements to make people think twice on such subjects as fast fashion and the environment, while always keeping humour as her secret weapon.

Bryant’s love of juxtaposing the classic with the inappropriate lends a lightness to her social activism. For her, eliciting a smile is the ultimate hallmark of success. ‘I feel there is a lot of very serious stuff going on in this world and to be able to cut through that and make someone smile is the best.' hausoflucy.com
WORDS SOPHIE DE ROSÉE