The New Museum unveiled Sarah Lucas's sculpture "VENUS VICTORIA" (2026) on May 12 as the inaugural commission for its new public plaza on the Bowery in New York. The work features a pink-hued figure in yellow high heels straddling a giant cast-concrete washing machine, riffing on the classic reclining nude. Lucas's proposal was selected by an all-artist jury including Teresita Fernández, Joan Jonas, Julie Mehretu, Cindy Sherman, and Kiki Smith. The sculpture will remain on view for two years, after which another commission by a woman artist will take its place.
This commission matters because it marks the first public plaza installation at the New Museum's newly opened OMA-designed Toby Devan Lewis Building, signaling the institution's commitment to site-specific, feminist-forward public art. The all-artist jury and the rotating two-year cycle for women artists underscore a curatorial emphasis on gender equity and community engagement in public sculpture, while the work's playful, irreverent tone continues Lucas's decades-long exploration of gender and the body.