Patricia PICCININI Bootflower 2015
Courtesy of the artist, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne and Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco Collection of Detached Cultural Organisation, Hobart

Learning resource

Patricia Piccinini


‘As a lover of diversity and unusualness of every kind, I see a wonderful possibility in the unexpected.’

Discussion Questions

  • How would you describe Bootflower?
  • The meadow and darkened room is part of the way this work is presented. How does your experience of an artwork differ, when you are able to traverse through it?
  • How does the existence of Bootflower a hybrid human/botanical creature, contradict with your own reality, and how does that make you feel?

Art Making

  • Create an outdoor sculpture with found objects and recycled materials that includes a pathway through which your viewers engage with the work. Build it in teams of 3-4 students, remembering to make your artwork a safe place to visit.
  • Transform a room into an artwork using light, sound and 3D objects that surprise or create a sense of unease. It will help the transformation of space if you block out natural light from the windows with black plastic, you can even cut shapes in the plastic to use this light as part of your artwork.

Case Study

Art as experience

  • Space is an important element in Bootflowers’ structural composition. Discuss how Piccinini has manipulated space to enhance the experience of the work. Consider how other artists, including James Turrell, design the viewer’s experience of space in their works.
  • Piccinini employs elements of Surrealism and the Uncanny in many of her works, particularly Bootflower. The notion of the Uncanny is theorised by psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Consider the legacy of Surrealism in Piccinini’s works.
  • Find images of the Exposition International du Surrealism 1938. Utilise the structural or formal framework to compare approaches to exhibition design. Research further examples of artists for whom the consideration of space is paramount to the effect of their work, for example installation and environmental artists.

Research Links

https://artsearch.nga.gov.au/detail.cfm?irn=278078

http://www.patriciapiccinini.net/writing/36/354/96

http://www.patriciapiccinini.net/writing/29/408/36

https://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/agsa/home/Learning/docs/Online_Resources/Piccinini_online_resource.pdf

Search for works by this artist in the national collection.