Originating from Los Angeles, Brooklyn based photographer Shaun Lucas captures the banalities in American Culture. His uncanny portraiture pays a tribute to his former pageant Mother who encouraged his need for “artistic” expression. Due to his appetite for vanity and leisure, he explores the various quintessential social groups embodied in America. He documents suburban lifestyle that portrays many facets of life ranging from the intimacy of interpersonal relationships to the deeply rooted subcultures. Attracted to society’s construction of land, Lucas exposes the artifice in subdivisions and manmade environments. While exploring different social groups, he captures American ideologies such as gun culture, motifs, and consumerism. Interested in how people adapt and mirror their environment, he creates a new perspective to mundane subjectivity. His vivid sunny California palette reflects his satirical personality. When not shooting with his medium format camera, Shaun prefers to lounge with the pups and watch reality tv. Lucas is currently finishing his BFA this year in Photography at the School of Visual Arts.
Appalachee Church Rd
Over the past 3 years Lucas has been documenting the midwest and southern culture. In his recent body of work, appalachee church rd, he produced a personal project on his significant other’s family in Auburn, Georgia. Prior to traveling down south, Shaun was nervous about meeting their conservative family. He was apprehensive about fitting in because he was from California and had a different cultural upbringing. On top of it all, Lucas was also going to photograph their lives and wondered what the reaction would be to a camera in their personal environment. Upon arrival, he was pleased when he met quite gentle and kind people. He was welcomed with open arms and it started to shift his ideas of southern stereotypes. As the trip progressed Lucas’ biggest observation was the gun culture that was embedded in both the family and general area. It was an interesting juxtaposition to these gentle people with the violent armories surrounding them.
To view more of Shaun’s work, please visit his website.