Patricia Piccinini is well known to be one of Australia's most leading contemporary artists. Piccinini's main inspiration comes from her keen interest in how contemporary ideas of nature , the natural and the artificial are changing our society. Works such as "Hello Possums" 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.
Piccinini enjoys exploring what she calls ‘the often specious distinctions between the artificial and the natural’. The concepts that underpin modern science, such as genetic engineering and other forms of biotechnology, appear to fascinate her.
The main ideas behind Piccinini's work is the fictions and mutability of the ideas of perfection, basically, she plays on peoples common perspective of perfection. Piccininic creates a contrast and relationship between the natural, organic and constructed worlds in order to suggest the potential marriage of human physiology and development.
My first reaction to "Hello Possums" was that it was quite ugly and very weird, but with more inspection you can more clearly see how Patricia Piccinini has cleverly shown us the distinctions between natural and artificial. Piccinini shows us a mutated version of perfection and it is quite interesting to see.
I agree with Liz, in the sense, that this is a very disconcerting piece of artwork, in the way you are first taken back by the ‘possums’ because of their hideousness. However, they are very interesting and therefore hard to look away from. In that; she has done a great job of forcing people to view her opinions of biotechnology, such as gene therapy and take a harder and longer look at what we are getting ourselves into with the increases of the technology of science.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Liz that Piccinini's work is very weird and disconcerting. I think that this is the point in her work, to shock and capture the attention of the masses so she can then get her deeper messages across. Those of her concerns with genetic tampering and how she questions our perception of perfection. I feel her craftsmanship is exquisite as all her works seem so real even though we know that nothing like this could possibly exist in our world. However she is trying to show that in the near future they just might be. I love Piccinini's work as she doesn't have a side she stands on as such, she just presents her exhibit has more of a neutral response to issues that are happening in our world today.
ReplyDelete