Patricia Piccinini facts for kids

Nest. This sculpture from 2006 is part of her 'automotive' series.

Patricia Piccinini (born in 1965 in Freetown, Sierra Leone) is a famous Australian artist. She creates art using many different things, like paintings, videos, sounds, and sculptures. Her art often shows "unexpected consequences" of science and technology. She makes us think about what might happen in the future.

In 2003, Patricia Piccinini showed her art for Australia at a big art event called the Venice Biennale. She displayed sculptures of unique human-like animals. In 2016, she was named the most popular modern artist in the world. This happened after her show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, attracted over 444,000 visitors!

Early Life

Patricia Piccinini was born in Sierra Leone in 1965. When she was 7 years old, she moved to Canberra, Australia. She went to school there, including Red Hill Primary and Telopea Park High School.

Education

After high school, Piccinini first studied economics at the Australian National University. But she later decided to study art. In 1991, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting. This was at the Victorian College of the Arts. In 2016, she received a special honorary degree from the University of Melbourne.

Artworks

Early Works (1995-1997)

Before making sculptures, Piccinini explored art through photos and digital changes. One of her projects was called 'The Mutant Genome Project' (1995). It showed "designer babies" called LUMP, which stood for "Lifeform with Unevolved Human Properties." These artworks made people think about the business side of science. They also raised questions about what is right and wrong in science.

Another series, 'The Protein Lattice', was inspired by a famous experiment from 1996. In that experiment, scientists grew a human ear shape on a mouse. Piccinini's art explored how science could change living things.

Exploring Life and Change (2000-2011)

In 2002, Piccinini created 'Still Life with Stem Cells'. This art showed strange, flesh-like shapes. She wanted to show how stem cells are like the basic building blocks of life. They can turn into any type of cell, like skin or bone. She asked, "What are we going to do with it?" meaning, how will we use this amazing science?

In 2003, Piccinini represented Australia at the 50th Venice Biennale. Her exhibition was called 'We Are Family'. It featured human-like mutant figures acting like regular people.

Later, in 2008, she made 'The Long-Awaited'. This sculpture showed a child holding a creature that was part-human, part-manatee. She wanted to explore feelings of caring and understanding.

Unique Creations (2012-2013)

The Skywhale is a very famous artwork by Piccinini. It was made for Canberra's 100th birthday celebration. It's a huge hot air balloon shaped like a tortoise-like animal. It has large, dangling udders and is made from a lot of nylon fabric. This artwork cost $300,000 and caused a lot of discussion.

Thoughts on Nature (2014-2015)

In 2014, Piccinini shared her thoughts on her art. She said her work is about "evolution, nature." She believes nature is amazing and we are here to simply witness it. She also explores genetic engineering and how it changes bodies.

Project Graham (2016)

In 2016, Piccinini worked on a special project called Project Graham. She teamed up with scientists and doctors. They created "Graham," a lifelike sculpture. Graham shows what a human body would need to look like to survive a car crash without injury. This project was part of a road safety campaign. It highlights how fragile the human body is in accidents.

New Connections (2018)

In 2018, Piccinini had a joint art show called 'Patricia Piccinini & Joy Hester Through Love ...'. For this show, she created a new artwork called 'Sanctuary'. It included a sculpture of two human-like bonobo figures hugging. It also had a drawing and a digital print of many human limbs forming a horizon.

Skywhalepapa (2019-2020)

In 2019, Piccinini created Skywhalepapa. This artwork is a partner to her earlier Skywhale. Skywhalepapa shows a male figure with his babies. Piccinini said she wanted to show a "masculine carer." She wanted to celebrate how fatherhood has changed and evolved.

A Miracle Constantly Repeated (2021)

In 2021, Piccinini had a big exhibition in her hometown called "A Miracle Constantly Repeated." It was her first major show there in almost 20 years. The exhibition took place in the old Flinders Street station ballroom. It featured hyper-real sculptures, videos, sounds, and lights. The art explored how humans relate to technology and the environment. It showed Piccinini's hopeful vision for a future built on strength and care.

What Her Art Means

Patricia Piccinini doesn't always tell people exactly what her art means. She likes her art to be a place where viewers can think for themselves. Her unusual and sometimes strange artworks make people imagine new worlds. They encourage discussions about important topics. She believes that art should make people think, not just come from the artist's own feelings.

Piccinini has said she is a feminist. She is very interested in "nurturing and care." She believes these qualities should be important to everyone, not just seen as "women's work."

How People React to Her Art

Some art critics have different opinions about Piccinini's work. One critic, John McDonald, didn't like that she used other artists to help create her designs. He also felt her ideas about different species were "far-fetched."

However, another expert, Barbara Creed, said Piccinini's art is loving. She believes it helps to heal divisions between people. Creed said Piccinini's art encourages us to look at new ways of being. It helps us accept differences and reminds us that we are all animals.

Charles Green, a professor of contemporary art, praised Piccinini's style. He said she made hyperrealism, an older art style, exciting again. He felt she did this by creating interesting stories with her art.

Post-Humanism in Her Art

Patricia Piccinini's art is often seen as "post-human." This means it explores ideas about what it means to be human in the future. Her art shows vulnerability through themes like changes in bodies, having babies, motherhood, and childhood. She explores how science and technology might change us. Her work suggests that new ideas about humans and femininity can free us from modern practices. These include things like genetic engineering and animal farms. For example, she uses ideas of surrogate motherhood and relationships between different species. This helps her talk about problems in our environment.

See also

In Spanish: Patricia Piccinini para niños

• Australian art
• Ron Mueck
• Transhumanism#Loss of human identity