Patricia Piccinini: Nearly Beloved

Patricia Piccinini has represented Australia at the highest international level, and in 2016 was named the world’s most popular artist.

In the hyper real world of Patricia Piccinini, there is a world of families of charming and slightly unsettling, sculptured beings...half human, half beast. Taking us on a mixed media excursion into an alternative world, she forces us to question what it is to love something.

Do we love it more if it is sweet or beautiful despite its faults? Noting once that Frankenstein created a monster which was then discarded, Piccinini felt sorry for the creature. As such, empathy is highly valued in her practice and she often shows creatures in a nurturing setting, looking alert, sentient and sweet.

'I really want to make work that is abhorrent but I want people to empathise. To be drawn in even though they may not want to’ says Piccinini.

When confronted by the works, viewers are torn between empathy, revulsion and concern. In this book the author discusses the complex ideas associated with the work of Patricia Piccinini, making both the work and the ideas accessible.

As one of Australia's most notable artists, Piccinini's works continue to make an impact all over the world with exhibitions recently in Estonia, Austria, Finland, Denmark and beyond. Learn more about Patricia Piccinini in the Piper Press title: Nearly Beloved by Helen McDonald.

The Art Newspaper described Patricia Piccinini as the world’s most popular contemporary artist of 2016 when half a million people visited her Rio exhibition. Every year since, there has been a major exhibition of Patricia Piccinini’s work at an Australian gallery.