Top image: Sarah Lucas, Self Portrait with Fried Eggs 1996 © Sarah Lucas

Designer Bella Freud became an instant fan of artist Sarah Lucas in the early 90s when she first saw the provocative self-portrait, Eating A Banana. Since then, she’s worked intermittently with the tongue-in-cheek YBA trailblazer, forming a friendship and even casting her as a model. But today, they’re launching their first official collaboration: a series of four, one-size-fits-all t-shirts.

The double-sided designs come with prints of Lucas’s signature sculptures on the front and a series of slogans on the back. “I asked if she felt like making something together and she shrugged and said why not,” says Freud of the collaboration’s laid-back conception, describing a text message chain of ideas which eventually became the finished products.

They also discovered a shared love of Yoko Ono, who became a key source of inspiration for the words on the back of the t-shirts. “She’s so underrated,” says Lucas, “She’s a bit of a muse for the whole thing, and some of the titles reflect her.” Ono’s radical spirit is also stamped across a series of upcoming work by Lucas, set to be exhibited as part of an upcoming exhibition HONEY PIE. In keeping with the artist’s ethos of inclusivity, the pieces are designed to fit all bodies of all sizes, too.

The Bella Freud x Sarah Lucas collection is available instore and online.
HONEY Pie opens today at New York’s Gladstone Gallery and on 16th March at London’s Sadie Coles HQ.