Patricia Piccinini Curious Affection on Tour
Patricia Piccinini / Australia VIC b.1965 / The Couple (detail) 2018 / Silicone, fibreglass, hair, cotton; ed. 1/3 + 1 AP / The Taylor Family Collection. Purchased 2018 with funds from Paul, Sue and Kate Taylor through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation. / View full image
When
25 Sep 2020 – 15 Jan 2022
About
Australian artist Patricia Piccinini addresses a range of themes in her practice – from relationships and fertility to wonder and ambiguity. Influenced by science, nature, Surrealism and the unconscious, Piccinini’s collisions of forms are sometimes startling, but rarely fearsome. While her work explores the implications of new technology, her fantastic creations also engage us on an emotional level – they elicit empathy and challenge conventional notions of beauty, perfection and ideal forms.
With ‘Curious Affection’, the artist invites us to think about our place in a world where advances in biotechnology and digital technologies blur the lines between humans, nature and the artificial. Her fascination with these boundaries and relationships led the New York Times to describe her creations as ‘sculptures of life forms that don’t exist’ – her lifelike hybrid creatures blend human, animal and machine elements to reveal life forms that are extraordinary, yet familiar.
This Queensland Art Gallery │ Gallery of Modern Art travelling exhibition includes some of Patricia Piccinini’s best-known sculptures, photographs and videos. These works introduce the themes and concepts that have inspired her creations over the course of her 20-year career, earning her a reputation as one of the world’s most adventurous artists.