Patricia Piccinini: We Are Connected Exhibition And Its Creatures
The ArtScience Museum is currently hosting an exhibition of the work of Australian sculptor Patricia Piccinini, known for her hyperrealistic sculptures of bizarre hybrid creatures that combine human and animal features. In this blog, I'll be discussing its amazing hybrid animals, fascinating mutant humans, and other fascinating creatures. Each of the six sections of the exhibition features sculptures, videos, collages, and installations.
The Grotto, 2018
After entering and reading each artwork's descriptions, I got Piccinini's message that she's trying to convey through her works. From attention to global warming to cutting-edge scientific discoveries, every circumstance alters our globe and daily lives in varied ways. And I feel that the artwork exhibits these messages intelligibly.
The Loafers, 2018
Her creatures, as alien as they may look, have a mysterious beauty, familiarity, and even fondness. As someone who enjoys fantasy, I can attest that Piccinini wonderfully represented her ideas in these creatures.
After going through the exhibition, the Artificial Naturalness area intrigues me since it mixes nature and technology to create a new species of wildlife. The installation that caught my eye is 'The Young Family.' This work of Piccinini left a big impression and left me wondering. What is this creature? Why was it created?
The Young Family, 2002
At first glance, this mother creature has a primate head, human arms and legs, and primate hands. A transgenic mother figure, half-pig, and half-human sleep on her side with four babies.
"..if we look ot The Young Family we see a mother creature with her babies. Her facial expression is very thoughtful. I imagine this creature to be bred for organ transplants. At the moment we are trying to do such a thing with pigs, so I gave her some pig-like features. That is the purpose humanity has chosen for her.". Patricia Piccinini, 2002
Embryo, 2016
To construct these pieces, she used different materials like silicone, fiberglass, resin, and even natural human hair. All her artworks intrigued me; the more I see them, the more I can see every meticulous detail.
After touring the exhibition, I can tell that Patricia Piccinini is a fan of nurturing and fertility as I see more artworks depicting nurture as a symbol of love and care.
Future Families
Future Families showed motherly "eagle-men" who had turned their bodies into nests to protect their eggs, a bizarre species with pouches running along its back that each held a young wombat like babies. This artwork freaked me out at first since the man-like face felt so out of place on the monster-like body, creating a very uncanny creature.
Ultimately, her works made me realize that we humans have some genetic and social traits in common with other species. Piccinini's new imagined lifeforms are like us in that they have a sense of awareness. Hence we should care more about every being that lives amongst us.
The show opens today (5 August 2022) and runs till 29 January 2023.