Lucy Sparrow (born 8 July 1986)[1][2] is a contemporary artist originating from Bath, England. 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 and wool, creating life-sized replicas in addition to oversized soft versions of existing objects.[3] Her work often features the SSRI prescription drug Prozac[4] and often features Sparrows interpretations of the retail[5] environment, the intricacies of product branding throughout the modern era and her full-sized representations of supermarkets.[6]
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 2013 travelling street art collection alongside Banksy, Blek le Rat, Jamie Hewlett, Pure Evil, D*Face and urban illustrator Oh Jiwon.[7] Her first solo show at Hoxton Gallery was Imitation,[8] which recreated famous artworks out of felt, including a shark in a tank by Damien Hirst.[9]
Following from her participation in group shows, Sparrow launched her first UK solo show in 2014[10] before moving on to release her first international solo show, 8 'till Late in 2017[11] in America. Since 2017, Sparrow has continued to exhibit globally across America[6] and Asia[12] in addition to the UK.[13]
Solo Shows
The Cornershop
In 2014, Sparrow created a Kickstarter campaign to fund her first major exhibition.[10]The Cornershop was a soft sculpture recreation of a British newsagent's installed in a derelict cornershop in East London. According to news sources, it took Sparrow and her assistant seven months and 300sq.metres of felt to create the 4,000 items on display.[14][15]
The Warmongery
Following from The Cornershop, Sparrow created The Warmongery[16] shop in Boxpark, located in Bethnall Green, East London. 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.".[17]The Warmongery ran for 10 days in total.[16]
Madame Roxy's Erotic Emporium
In 2015, Lucy Sparrow made an installation of a sex shop in London's Soho, 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 of Soho.[18][19] The exhibition was called Madame Roxy's Erotic Emporium and included pornographic magazines, whips, toys and jars full of STIs.[20]
8 'till Late
In June 2017, Sparrow installed a felt replica of a bodega in The Standard, High Line hotel in New York City.[21][11]8 'till Late opened on June 5 and featured 9,000 items.[22] The show was an instant success, requiring Sparrow to temporarily close the show after 7 days to restock.[22] 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.[23]
Sparrow Mart
In August 2018, Sparrow released Sparrow Mart,[24] a life-sized replica of a supermarket. The supermarket represented Sparrows fifth major art installation and was built within The Standard, a hotel in Downtown LA. Sparrow Mart featured 31,000 felt grocery items[5] and covered over 2,800 square feet of retail space.
in October 2019 Sparrow reprised her New York City run with the Sixth Avenue Delicatessen show, which ran from October 1 until October 20, 2019. The show was hosted at the Rockefeller Center on Sixth Avenue where she offered some thirty thousand felt replications of perishable food items for sale.[28]Sixth Avenue Delicatessen featured a run of 30,000[6] felt items created by Sparrow. The show was organised by the Art Production Fund and ran for a total of 3 weeks.[29]
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