Husband and I betook ourselves to the art gallery of WA to see the
Patricia Piccinini exhibition of super-realistic creature models. Much skin, many wrinkles, a variety of orifices, stray teeth, scattered hair, and the odd freckle.
I should perhaps refer to the official blurb:
Created using a combination of materials such as silicone, fibreglass and human hair, Piccinini’s sculptures are familiar yet fantastical in their depiction of possible future species and their interaction with human beings. Often confronting yet endearingly vulnerable, her sculptures give form to her fascination with the relationship between the ‘natural’ and the ‘artificial’ while asserting the power of social relationships, love and communication. Piccinini’s work is fundamentally about the human condition, despite the quasi-human appearance of her sculptures. The artist sees them as ‘beautiful rather than grotesque, miraculous rather than freakish’.( Read more... )