Tag Archives: Contemporary

Asia Fuller Presents

The Strange Case of Patricia Piccinini:

An Eccentric Genius

Patricia Piccinini is a Sierra Leone-born Australian sculptress who is well known for her hyper-realistic human-creature hybrids. They may come off as unsettling at first glance, but if you stop to look closely, the pieces almost tell a tender story. Piccinini made use of contrast by making something so terrifyingly ghastly into something so sweet and gentle. She’s done works outside of sculptures such as paintings, photography, drawings, videography, and other forms of media. Through all of the mediums that she has used, surrealism was an art style she has hardly ever strayed from.

In 1988, Piccinini attended the Australian National University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economic History. She later attended the Victorian College of Arts in order to obtain her Bachelor of Arts for Painting in 1991. She eventually spent her early career studying human anatomy and found different ways to contort it into abnormal shapes and forms. Before she begins any project, she draws out her ideas and has a team help develop a three-dimensional test model. For her final product, the main materials that Piccinini would typically use are silicone, fiberglass, and human hair.

Piccinini, Patricia. The Carrier. 2012, silicone, human and animal hair, clothing. Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne

In the image above, it shows an image of “The Carrier”, a naked bear-like human creature carrying a fully-dressed old woman in its hands. It’s interesting how something so large and powerful would seem to be subservient to someone so seemingly frail and harmless in comparison. There is a sense of an unequal balance where the old lady holds dominance and superiority over the bear man. It could be possible that this may be a mutual relationship between him and her where a task is being fulfilled.

Piccinini, Patricia. The Surrogate (For the Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat). 2005, silicone, fiberglass, leather, plywood, human hair. The Art Gallery of South Australia.

This next piece, “The Surrogate” portrays a creature incubating a wisdom of baby wombats within the wombs down its backside. Each wombat slowly becomes pushed out of the pouch through the creature’s pores as it sits contently. The Surrogate made itself a safe space for the little joeys and would keep them protected from harm.

Patricia Piccinini.The Bond.2016, Silicone, fiberglass, human hair, clothing.Tolarno Galleries, Melbourn Roslyn Oxley Gallery, Sydney and Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco.

“The Bond” shows a woman cradling an overly fleshy, piglike child fondly as if it were her own. It almost seems as if she is comforting him from as he sits comfortably in her embrace. Upon closer inspection, the creature looks reminiscent of the piece “Teenage Metamorphasis”. From there the creature is independent of the “mother” in this image and lies upon a blanket with a stereo and the book Metamorphasis by Franz Kafka.

Piccinini, Patricia. The Couple. 2018, Silicone, fiberglass, human hair, found objects. Arken Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.

“The Couple” portrays two humanoid creatures lying with one another alone in a trailer. This piece has left me staring at it longer than any of the others. These creatures look the most human compared to any other piece that I’ve seen yet it intrigues me the most. Their body language alone tells an entire story about their relationship. The male may feel a sense of vulnerability and comfort within his lover’s arms while the female would help bear the weight of demons and insecurities.

Piccinini, Patricia.The Welcome Guest. 2011, Silicone, Fiberglass, human hair, clothing, taxidermy peacock, bed. Tolnaro Gallery, Melbourne.

In ” The Welcome Guest”, a little girl is being greeted by a stranger ready to give her a hug on a bed with a peacock standing from the head of the bed. In my eyes, the idea behind a strange creature being friendly to children has always been adorable for me. It’s elongated nails and animalistic figure makes it slightly intimidating albeit its friendly face. Instead of being a child-hungry monster under the bed, the creature is a benign friend who’s willing there to be there with open arms.

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/patricia-piccinini-the-bond
https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/melbournenow/artists/patricia-piccinini.html
https://www.art-almanac.com.au/patricia-piccinini-like-us/
https://theweekendedition.com.au/event-news/patricia-piccinini-curious-affection/ https://nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/patricia-piccinini https://www.designboom.com/art/the-carrier-an-animal-and-human-hybrid-by-patricia-piccinini/

Kiki Smith – Karmen Freeman

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Kiki Smith is an American artist who was born in Germany on January 18, 1954. She was born to a sculptor, Tony Smith, and an opera singer, Jane Lawrence. Though born on German soil, her parents moved to New Jersey soon after Kiki’s birth. Kiki grew up assisting her father with his sculptures and also in the Catholic church; while these two things may appear unrelated, both of these aspects of her childhood have a significant impact in her own art and sculpting career.

Materials and Methods

Kiki has experimented with many different types of artistry, and is therefore well versed in the sculpture, printmaking, and traditional drawing. While she mostly sculpts (though in quite a different way from her father), she has done many traditional works.

She also deals with unique, experimental styles. For example, her 1996 installment, Constellation, is created with dozens of glass animals and stars:

Constellation. 26 glass animal units, 630 bronze scat units, and 67 glass star units. 1996.

Let’s take a closer look:

The glass animals and stars are meant to portray a constellation from a top-down view, with various bronze bits scattered about to make the “scat”.

One of her more popular pieces in the 90’s, My Blue Lake, was created with a printmaking technique called photogravure. This process, to put it simply, includes taking the negative of an image and etching the image into a metal plate.

My Blue Lake, Photogravure and monoprint. 1994.

Inspiration

Kiki draws much of her inspiration from her Catholic upbringing. She theorizes that religion — especially the Catholic church — and art have something in common: the desire to physically manifest something from within the self, whether that be something spiritual or emotional. She also finds that both religion and art are a form of storytelling. Both have tales and convey something that is of significance to the ones who tell the stories. A theme of storytelling often appears in her work, such as these two pieces, Lying with the Wolf and Wearing the Skin.

Lying with the Wolf. Ink and pencil on paper. 2001

Wearing the Skin. Ink and pencil on paper. 2001

In many of her pieces, Kiki deals with the idea of the human body and how it relates to the world around it. Her sculptures often portray women and some form of rebirth; take her 2002 Born, for example:

This sculpture leaves little to the imagination. It portrays a woman being born from a gentle doe, its horizontal orientation giving a calming feeling despite being in the presence of the realistically impossible.

, The Women on the Pyres

The Women on the Pyres are a set of sculptures, each depicting a woman kneeling atop a pile of wood. At the time, she was partaking in an outdoor sculpting competition. She felt no inspiration in her work. She had, however, recently been interested in the numerous witch trials in Europe. Hundreds of women were beaten and burned during this dark time, and for any little reason. Even worse, the towns involved still rarely speak of it. This in mind, she set out to commemorate these women, who kneel with their arms stretched out as a parallel to Jesus’ crucifixion. One piece became two, and so the set was developed.

Unlike other art pieces that portray these “witches” screaming in agony and tied to posts, the Women on the Pyres have closed mouths and passive expressions. It’s as if, instead of fighting the inevitable, they are waiting in acceptance. This perhaps relates back to her theme of rebirth in her projects.

Kiki Smith’s works have been displayed in galleries all of the United States, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Now 65 years of age, Kiki resides in New York City.

Works cited

Kiki Smith- Women on Pyres

https://art21.org/read/kiki-smith-learning-by-looking-witches-catholicism-and-buddhist-art/

https://art21.org/read/kiki-smith-family-history-and-the-history-of-objects/

https://art21.org/artist/kiki-smith/

Ron Mueck – Ariana

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Image result for ron mueck working on his sculpture — Ron Mueck working on one of his hyper-realistic sculptures.

Ron Mueck was born in Australia to German parents in 1958. His parents were toy makers and he grew up making all sorts of toys, dolls, and outfits. Later, he began his career in making models and worked in the art of puppetry. Soon after, he began creating realistic pieces for an advertisement company. By 1996, Mueck committed his life to his own contemporary art, abandoning any commercial company he would have worked with.

Ron Mueck creates hyper-realistic, large and small scale, human sculptures out of resin, fiberglass, silicone, and other materials. Unlike other artists, Mueck chooses to use his art to portray current human life. He creates sculptures that depict people from all stages of life, ranging from birth to death. While putting a piece of his own personality into all of his work, Mueck strives to show the audience what life really looks like. He doesn’t want to sugar-coat it or sweep it under the rug. He feels like life needs to be seen the way it is felt.

Pictured above, is Ron Mueck’s “A Girl,” where he depicts a new-born, baby girl. He uses the scale of the sculpture to emphasize the trauma and the miracle of child birth. The baby has a disgruntled face, as most do when they are first born. The sculpture also has red coloration throughout to show that the baby experienced some sort of trauma, i.e. birth. Child-birth is such a mystery to many people, as no one remembers what it felt like, but Mueck created this piece to show the reality of the event.

Image result for ron mueck a boy — “Boy” – Ron Mueck

Another ginormous sculpture that Ron Mueck created is called “Boy.” The boy’s stature and facial expression makes the viewer wonder what the boy is going through. The sculpture is relatable in a way that the audience is drawn into his emotions, wondering what is going on.

Image result for mask 2 ron mueck — “Mask II” – Ron Mueck

“Mask II” is the second independent, gigantic face that Mueck has displayed. This piece depicts a relatable man, seemingly lying on the platform it is displayed. This sculpture represents the everyday man in society because of the imperfections that are shown, He has wrinkles, a five o’clock shadow, and even some gray hair. Mueck uses this relatability to pull at the audience’s emotions when seeing the sculpture’s face morphed into a concerning look.

Image result for ron mueck spooning couple — Ron Mueck working on sculpture called “Spooning Couple.”

After creating any of his sculptures out of clay, creates a plaster mold, paints some coloration into the mold, then they are then casted into the material Mueck chooses. Typically this is either silicone or fiberglass and acrylic. These materials are used to create the hyper-realistic look that his pieces contain. Afterward, like shown above, Mueck carefully paints the details and sews in the hair.

The sculpture above is known as “Spooning Couple,” and is a small-scale sculpture of a man and woman cuddling. This piece shows the couple with discontented looks and does not portray the “ideal” body types. This is meant to be an image that depicts the imperfections of a relationship. Life isn’t perfect, as Mueck shows in all of his pieces, let alone an intimate relationship.

The photo above is a sculpture representing Ron Mueck’s father in “Dead Man.” The piece is quite small and is displayed on a large platform, giving the viewer an immediate sense of loneliness. The man depicted is pale, confirming that the man is dead. This shows that death is lonely to everyone. Death is just another phase of life and Mueck felt that is shouldn’t be shut up and not talked about. It is emotional and everyone has to experience it, as is the basis of all of his work.

Works Cited

Mourier, Adam, and Zoey Coen. “13 Hyper-Realistic Sculptures by Ron Mueck.” Bored Panda, 2019, www.boredpanda.com/13-hyper-realistic-sculptures-by-ron-mueck/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic.

Mueck, Ron. “A Girl.” National Galleries of Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/94045/girl.

“Ron Mueck.” Widewalls, 2018, www.widewalls.ch/artist/ron-mueck/.

Taylor, Alan. “The Hyperrealistic Sculptures of Ron Mueck.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 9 Oct. 2013, www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/10/the-hyperrealistic-sculptures-of-ron-mueck/100606/.