A most interesting sculpture installation was recently housed in the WA Art Gallery and for those lucky enough to make it, Patricia Piccinini's Relativity was very thought provoking. The exhibition was sculpture, but took a fantastical view of the world. Having studied anatomy Piccinini ascribed much of her work to the idea of genetic engineering and how science could affect mammals, including humans. One of the most engaging, and for some people disturbing elements of her work, is how life-like her sculptures are and how easy to empathise with the creatures depicted in them it is. Furthermore, her incredibly detailed depiction of children and how they would interact with such beings is fascinating as the presence of these sculptures encourages viewers to interact with them in the same wide-eyed curious but accepting way the child sculptures appear able to. Certainly children frequently accept things around them that adults may have trouble with as it is all they have ever known, and such a suggestion is one of the most interesting implications of Piccinini's work. Ultimately though it is the expressions and the empathy that all the sculptures inspire that really touched me. As intriguing as the scientific questions are, the fact that they are presented in such an identifiable way makes the exhibition all the more effective. In this sense it reminded me of the poem “The Golden Mean” in Antimatter. Both utilise science but neither let it control or overwhelm their expression, rather it is a perfect balance.
Rosalind for dotdotdash.
Image by tanakawho (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/)
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