On Nicola L.
Jo Applin, London Review of Books
Vol. 46 No. 24
Nicola L. is best known for the soft vinyl sculptures of feet and other body parts she made in the 1960s and 1970s. These giant cushions were paired with other ‘functional objects’ including plastic lamps shaped as eyeballs and lips, curvaceous wooden chests of drawers and head-shaped bookcases. In I Am the Last Woman Object (until 29 December), soft sculptures dot the gallery space. Many of the works on display have a nascent feminist edge. Woman Cut in Pieces (1968) is a startling group of pastel-pink severed body parts shoved inside a transparent Perspex suitcase. In Little TV Woman (1969) a series of stuffed plastic cushions hinge together into a single collapsible body, complete with furry pubic hair and sex-doll mouth. The sculpture is propped awkwardly against the wall and set back on its haunches, knees splayed apart on the floor. The breasts double up as drawers and white buttons stand in for nipples. A working television set has been inserted into the abdomen, periodically broadcasting a series of messages that begin ‘I am the last woman object.’ Any viewer who seeks to ‘touch my breasts’ or ‘caress my stomach’ will do so, it announces, for ‘the last time’. […]