Joy Sauce is a mixed-media installation featuring a video embedded in a large-scale painting of a surreal domestic scene. The video shows a cast of characters in a historical abbey costumed with masks, wigs, and painted clothing. Lutgens’ characters appear zombified, intended to symbolise the state of today’s workers who are trapped in the illusion of freedom and the constant struggle to perform. The sharp, satirical undertone of the work is key to Lutgens’ distinctive visual language, developed across painting, drawing and installation. The title of the work plays on the Lacanian notion of jouissance, referring to a paradoxical form of enjoyment that exceeds mere pleasure, often involving excess, pain, or the transgression of limits. The artist explores the connection between the pursuit of one’s passions and the transgressive nature of jouissance—both potentially liberating and self-destructive—often encountered in the abject, that which we reject yet remain drawn to.
