Patricia Piccinini
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Patricia Piccinini
(born in 1965 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) is an Australian artist. She
was born in 1965 in Sierra Leone and emigrated to Australia in 1972 with
her family. She studied economic history before enrolling at art school
in Melbourne. Her mixed media works include the series Truck Babies, and
the installation We are Family which was chosen to represent Australia
at the 2003 Venice Biennale. Piccinini works with a wide range of media,
including sculpture, video, drawing, installation and digital prints.
Her major artworks often reflect her interests in world issues such as
bioethics, biotechnologies and the environment. Her work has gained
extensive international recognition.
According to the
National Gallery of Victoria, Australia: "Piccinini has an ambivalent
attitude towards technology and she uses her artistic practice as a
forum for discussion about how technology impacts upon life. She is
keenly interested in how contemporary ideas of nature, the natural and
the artificial are changing our society. Specific works have addressed
concerns about biotechnology, such as gene therapy and ongoing research
to map the human genome. Piccinini often creates acutely aesthetic and
appealing works as a means of discussing complex ethical issues; she is
also fascinated by the mechanisms of consumer culture." Piccinini presents a pair of infant trucksPiccinini likes to explore what
she calls the "often specious distinctions between the artificial and
the natural". She challenges our classification of life by displaying
the relationship and differences between the organic, natural and our
constructed material world. This inspires her to combine human
physiology and technological development.
Jackie Randles
summarises the ethical and emotional content of Piccinini's work as
follows: "By giving her creatures subjectivity and physical features
that are recognisably human, Patricia creates emotionally charged scenes
that represent familial love, nurturing and caring. In response, a
viewer might reflect upon hope: the love of a mother for her sick child,
the longing for a cure and the desire for a medical solution, no matter
how strange or unnatural it may seem. When the life of one's own family
is at stake, does this becomes more important than any advesre impact a
bioengineered solution may have on the natural world? Patricia's own
position in the work is ambiguous - she presents both sides of the
story. This conflict is possibly deepened by her own experience of her
mother's death from cancer. Clearly, there are no right or wrong answers
- but the love of parents for their children is an overwhelmingly
powerful force. ... Patricia Piccinini confronts us with difficult and
emotional questions about bioengineering. However, despite their
woe-begotten appearances, it is heartening that in their own worlds,
each creature is presented as having a life of its own - a valued place
in which it is accepted and has the capacity to give and receive love."
Piccinini is often
compared to Ron Mueck due to her use of hyper-realistic silicone
sculptures as part of practice. Her automotive
sculptures, such as Truck babies and Nest have been compared to Erwin
Wurm.
A recent example of Piccinini's 'automotive' works. Piccinini is one of
type of artist who works with fabricators to produce her works. Sam
Jinks was the sculptor responsible for the fabrication of her silicone
creature pieces from 2001-2006, while she now works with Sydney-based
special effects firm MEG. Truck Babies was modelled by Paul Kuchera but
since 2001 Robin Fischer, Scott Seedsman and John Kral have sculpted and
painted her fiberglass automotive works . Dennis Daniel has done
extensive computer modeling and animation for her since 1997. Full
credits for her work can be found on her website and in her catalogs.
