Lucas Samaras: he might make boxes , but as two new shows prove, he won't be put in one

Interview, Dec, 2003 by Neville Wakefield

NEVILLE WAKEFIELD: You have a gallery show featuring your latest work at New York City's PaceWildenstein [through January 17] and a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum [through February 8]. So, what's it like for a self-confessed recluse to have two big shows on the horizon?

LUCAS SAMARAS: Well, all recluses have to get some attention from time to time.

NW: Where were these new images taken?

LS: In Central Park, mostly. It was a perfect place because in addition to providing me with a space to work, it also provided me with a whole set of characters, like the mallard ducks, and the egrets, and the trees, and the rocks. It was like coming upon a treasure--and the stupid thing was that I'd been traversing the park for more than 40 years.

NW: Does your very early upbringing in Macedonia show up in the work as well?

LS: Oh, yes. I have a whole series where I juxtapose some of my old family photographs with landmarks in the park. It's a decayed place, but it was the perfect stage. I think the Whitney is going to show one or two of those pictures.

NW: Some of your past work has an almost hallucinatory quality.

LS: When I was making those pictures, I remember people asking me, "Are you taking drugs?" But I never did. All the kids were doing it, so I wasn't going to. I had the same level of fantasy without it.

NW: Do you feel like you've been neglected by art history?

LS: That sort of suggests a hunger for what you want versus what you've got. I think it's a question of some artists having to wait a little longer than others. There are all kinds of reasons as to why, but for some people recognition comes immediately, and for others it comes and then disappears for years.

NW: Do you care?

LS: Yes, but I use that anger to propel myself to the next project. I have to be in a state of anger to start a project. If I'm content, I can't do anything. But all I have to do is enter a gallery and the anger's already there.

Neville Wakefield is a frequent Interview contributor.