Quotes from Patricia Piccinini

I struggle in life to find a sense of joy in things.

How does contemporary technology and culture changes our understanding of what it means to be human. What is our relationship with - and responsibilities towards - that which we create.

Perhaps because of this, many have looked at my practice in terms of science and technology, however, for me it is just as informed by Surrealism and mythology.

The illusion of life is crucial for the work, otherwise the ideas wouldn't be able to jump across, people wouldn't engage with it.

I certainly don't see the humour in my work as something that detracts from its seriousness. It's just a way of making difficult messages more palatable.

I feel that there's hardly any irony in my work; if there's anything, there'll be sincerity, which people sometimes find hard to deal with.

Ideas rather than methods are central to they way I work, although drawing plays a central generative role in everything I do.

I usually have several things on the go. Whether it is my own drawings for the next work that I am working on while a sculpture is being fabricated or several works at different points in production.

I work with whatever mediums seems best suited to evoking the sorts of thoughts and emotions I am interested in playing with.

Melbourne is a fantastic place to work, but it's not the centre of the world.

I would say my work is anti-ironic.

Most of the work I make uses materials that are a bit outside of the traditional fine art world.

I use whatever media I think will best express my ideas and therefore I don't have a lot invested in the idea of photography specifically. I am more interested in Art.

It's interesting to work with what's important today, which is meaningful for our everyday lives.

If there are moments in my work when people find joy and humour, that's a real success for me.

Of course, all my work is photographed and I also take quite a lot of photographs of work in production.

Obviously, I don't make an entire edition all at once, so the studio often goes back to produce editions, but that's a bit different. I guess I'm always thinking about the next work.

We always use resin instead of polyurethane, even though it takes more work and is in places where it can't be seen, because resin tends to be more UV stable than urethane.

I tend to work towards specific exhibitions, so there will often be a big push towards the end when we're finishing off a bunch of stuff.

My Father is a photographer, so it was always around. I was trained in painting, so I learnt a lot of skills about composition, light, colour, the formal attributes of images.