Patricia Piccinini: The Struggle that Sustains Us
25 x 46 x 26 cm
Since she burst into international prominence at the 2003 Venice Biennale, Patricia Piccinini has become famous for creating some of the most troubling — yet lyrical — artworks of our time. Using silicone, human hair and animal fur, she imagines creatures that are hyper-realistic and disquietingly surreal, to ask us to think about what it means to be human; how that is rapidly changing through advances in medicine, science and technology; and how we might go about understanding those changes.
Empathy is at the heart of Piccinini's practice. When she envisions a co-mingling of animal, plant, machine, and human, she asks us to question the "otherness" of creatures — cyber-forms, or humans who don't resemble the "norm." Viewers often react to her beings' exposed vulnerabilities by recoiling... a natural reaction triggered by the difficulty we have of feeling a connection to those we consider "different." One of the strengths of Picinini's work is the way it forces us to confront and assess those feelings.
Her fourth solo exhibition at Hosfelt Gallery is a rollercoaster-ride of fleshy, chimeric creatures, glassy sprites, animate machines, art history and pop culture.
Patricia Piccinini was born in Sierra Leone in 1965 and resides in Melbourne. She was chosen to represent Australia in the 2003 Venice Biennale and her work has since been the subject of dozens of major solo museum exhibitions worldwide.
