Blog 03

Many artists were mentioned in chapter 1 of “Digital Technologies as Tool”. Of the artists mentioned, the one that caught my attention was Patricia Piccinini. She combines the elements of the familiar and the alien in her works. After searching more of her peculiar creations, I noticed the recurring theme of humanoids in each art piece; she would use the general image of something familiar such as a shape, object or setting and modify the image into something else entirely. I found some of the art to be offsetting and even repulsive at times. However, each art piece utilizes a familiar theme of human flesh combined with different sections of animals. One example that I found was a digital reconstructed image of what appeared to be a child. It had the physique of a child, similar features such as hair, eyes and a face. What differentiated this child from looking like a child was its strange skin, bat nose and prime ape hands and feet. As I looked at the artwork, I found myself forcibly changing the artwork into a picture of a normal child. I could not actually look at it for a prolonged period of time before turning my head away. The picture was almost incomprehensible in my eyes. The appearance of the skin, and animal features were very grotesque. However, after giving the artwork some time and analysis, I questioned the goal of Piccinini and why she would overlap the boundaries of human and alien. My answer was that it was to draw the viewer in and perhaps to offset him or her with alien features. By presenting the general image of something familiar, it attracts the viewer and gains his or her attention. At that point, the viewer would then notice the strange additions to the image and react to it. Regardless of how the viewer may react, either in confusion or in my case repulsiveness, the artwork has acquired the attention of the viewer and the image will remain in their thoughts.