Plaza: Sarah Lucas—VENUS VICTORIA at the New Museum

The New Museum has installed Sarah Lucas's VENUS VICTORIA on its Plaza at 235 Bowery, on the Lower East Side. The presentation opened on May 12, 2026, and will stay in place until May 12, 2028. Two years is a long run, and it sets the piece on a different timeline from the exhibitions inside the building.

Lucas was born in London in 1962 and emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s as part of the Young British Artists, the generation that included Damien Hirst. She is known for sculpture and photography built from everyday objects and materials: fried eggs, kebabs, cigarettes, stuffed stockings. With humor and a deliberate edge, she unsettles stereotypes about the body, sex and gender. In 2015 she represented Britain at the Venice Biennale.

The title pairs Venus, the goddess of beauty, with Victoria, a name that means victory. It sits comfortably within the questions about the female figure and the body that Lucas has pursued for decades. The setting also suits her. A plaza is open to anyone passing by, with no ticket required to see what stands there, and her work has long drawn its force from ordinary materials and ordinary encounters.

The New Museum was founded in 1977 and is devoted to contemporary art. Its current building, which opened in 2007, was designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA. Its stack of offset white boxes stands out among the Bowery's lower buildings. For Japanese-speaking visitors, there is some interest in seeing a London-born artist's work at the foot of a building by Japanese architects.

Because the work is outdoors, it fits easily into a walk through the neighborhood. With the run extending to 2028, visitors can return in different seasons and light. Soho, Little Italy and the rest of the Lower East Side are all within a short walk.