art practice

Patricia Piccinini
In Protein Lattice 1997, a professional model poses while playing carelessly with a digitally generated hairless rat that has a life-size human ear growing from its back.
Because Piccinini's work is mostly computer generated, we must reflect on the subjects of the artwork rather than the physcial piece of paper. Her works reflect the increasingly artificial nature of contemporary life from plastic surgery and genetically modified food to genetic engineering. Most people look at the girl and think she is beautiful and the rat ugly. But she is just as artificial as the rat. Therefore, the idea of artificial (material) is raised. Her method of digital manipulation is also a statement of how both the rat and the girl have undergone the same method of change, yet their contrast is evident.

Sidney Nolan
Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly 1946 is part of a squence of paintings that did not recount his life, but rather hold values just as injustice, loneliness and love. Rather than painting with acrylics or oils, nolan uses enamel on composition board as to reflect the harshness yet beauty of the Australian landscape. His method of using this kind of medium is aided by his painting technique. In the painting, nolan does not aspire to realistic depictions. His obvious brush lines and powerful brush strokes again reflect the environment in which he is painting.