Lucas Sams

A graduate of the SCGSAH and USC- after studying painting in Tokyo, Japan, his work has continued experimental explorations of postmodern abstraction and figuration with far-ranging influences from religious art and alchemy to sci-fi and anime.

Artist Statement

This installation sculpture is inspired by the visual and symbolic language of Nuclear Semiotics, developed by the Human Interference Taskforce (1981) and the long-term warning systems theorized from an infamous 1993 report from Sandia National Laboratories.

A desolate future wasteland is envisioned where, entombed, a great danger to humanity lies beneath a foreboding mausoleum. This place is meant to convey the danger of nuclear waste to future generations through universal symbolism, as they may have a different language than those we use today- a Rosetta Stone of warning in real and symbolic language. 

The central mausoleum, alongside the quotes of the original textual warnings of the 1993 Sandia Report, draws the conclusion that the dangerous, forgotten, forbidden monument was once our society, our culture, our country, warning a remote or possibly not-so-distant-future of the dangers of new American fascism. A monolith of isolation, institutional, prison-like, faded and windswept. It has become radioactive and nothing can grow there again. It is a cautionary tale, and a warning as dire as that of this sculpture’s inspirations.


Presented by the Jasper Project, The Degenerate Art Project II is the answer to an overwhelming request by artists and patrons of Jasper's inaugural Degenerate Art Project (July 2025) for an additional exhibition which will involve an open call for visual artists. This 3 week-long multidisciplinary arts event (Feb. 11–28 at Stormwater Studios) invites Midlands artists to respond to today's socio-political climate, and unite our local arts community—physically and in spirit—in support and solidarity during challenging times. Inspired by—and reclaiming—the legacy of the Nazi-labeled "Degenerate Art" of 1937, this project champions creative resistance and free expression through a visual art exhibition, featuring over 40 Midlands artists.