The Association of Sculptors of Victoria is an inclusive, not-for-profit collective of contemporary artists whose purpose is to inspire,stimulate and advance the appreciation, creation, and exploration of three-dimensional art in society.

Patricia Puccinini

The teenager was feeling particularly bad about school as she trudged the morning pilgrimage. So bad in fact that she walked right past the school grounds and walked and walked and kept on walking. Kilometers later she found herself at the doorstep of the National Gallery of Australia. She felt so much better as she walked inside. Here was a world of ideas, of intrigue...she was awestruck and inspired, if even a little intimidated. At that moment she knew this was her place. That better feeling served her well through the months and the years. Strange creatures began to evolve through her work - melancholy pig-humans, a whale balloon with ten loping breasts - each the size of a minibus, two moped bikes challenging each other like stag bulls rutting in mating season.This is the intriguing world of Melbourne artist Patricia Puccinini. 
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“Ideas rather than methods are central to the way I work, although drawing plays a central generative role in everything I do”.
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Patricia was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1965. Her father was Italian and her mother English. In 1972 her family arrived in Australia and she did her schooling in Canberra. In 1988 she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economic History at ANU but decided economics wasn’t for her. In 1991 she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (painting) at the Victorian College of the Arts and has more recently completed a doctorate in Visual and Performing Arts at Melbourne Uni. For all her studies she has said that she learned the most from being the coordinator of the Basement Project Gallery in Melbourne where she learned to collaborate effectively with other artists. Patricia is a deep thinker and feels emotion intensely. Her work does not sit comfortably with a serve of apple pie and cream. It explores controversial subjects such as genetic manipulation of animals for the benefit of human health and the boundaries between what is human and what is not. The strange feelings you get when you experience her works is what she’s aiming for.
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“My ultimate dream for the viewer is that they experience a new emotion.”
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Sky Whale
The Skywhale shortly before take off on its second flight over Canberra in May 2013
Nick-D - Own work CC BY-SA 3.0

The Young Family
In 2003, Patricia gained an international reputation for “the Young Family” which was chosen to represent Australia at the 2003 Venice Biennale. An image of this work can be found here: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-young-family/hQFGEqnmYRqUxg?hl=en-GB. The image both repels and attracts. Perhaps we feel stirrings of empathy amongst an initial aversion as we see the thoughtful pensive face of the mother and imagine the bonds of love with her children. Patricia has used this form to provoke questions about the ethics of genetic dickering to create human-pig hybrids to potentially grow and harvest human organs - something that science has been actively researching (see https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-27/human-pig-embryo-a-breakthrough-for-organ-transplant-future/8216580 ). Patricia’s work explores boundaries - she somehow manages to navigate a delicate path between disgust and empathy. Her pieces have an energy similar to trying to hold two opposing magnets together - there is tension but also an intrigue and fascination in the process.
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“I'm an artist who engages with ideas outside the art world”
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Meet Graham 
In 2017 she collaborated with trauma surgeon Dr. Christian Kenfield and crash investigator Dr. David Logan. The project was a creative approach to raise awareness about road trauma. And so became Graham, a humanoid designed to survive the impact of a high speed car crashes. Graham perhaps communicates the need for careful driving more effectively than any words can - such is the power of art. ( see http://www.meetgraham.com.au/about-the-project ). Transport Accident Commission of Victoria, Australia - Patricia is an artist of ideas not technique. She channels ideas through her hand to create concept drawings and then relies on effective collaboration with other artists to make the figures. The materials are often silicone, resin and hair applied to a steel armature. Some have criticized her for being a “manager of artists” rather than the “creator of works”. Without her though, the works would not exist.

There is a strong theme of “something new” in her work - “disgempathy” - a blend of disgust and empathy. There is a sense of sadness too and a leaning to the dark side. But it is not a leaning that seeks to exploit, nor a pornography of violence or the macabre. It is a leaning that wants us to think about controversial issues in a new and awkward way. And in this I think we are presented with an opportunity to learn something new about ourselves. You might like to view the following links: Patricia’s website https://www.patriciapiccinini.net/ 
An overview of her ideas and works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0613V38a38s



Thanks to Michael Adeney for this article
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