Patricia Piccinini

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.

It does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve it by citing reliable sources. Tagged since April 2008.
The notability of this article's subject is in question. If notability cannot be established, it may be listed for deletion or removed. Tagged since April 2008.
It reads like a personal reflection or essay. Tagged since April 2008.
Very few or no other articles link to this one. Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. Tagged since April 2008.
It may have been edited by a person who has a conflict of interest with the subject matter.

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.

Truck Babies, sculpture, 1997. Piccinini presents a pair of infant trucks

Piccinini likes to explore what she calls the "often specious distinctions between the artificial and the natural"^{[citation needed]}. 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.

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.

Nest, sculpture, 2006. A recent example of Piccinini's 'automotive' works.

Piccinini works with a variety of people for the fabrication of her works. Sam Jinks was the sculptor responsible for the creation of her silicone creature pieces from 2001-2006 (including 'The Young Family')[1] [2], 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.