Patricia Piccinini: Holding Tight and Letting Go | Ames Yavuz
This exhibition cast a spell on me this week. Australian artist Patricia Piccinini is deeply interested in how we relate to family, to friends, to the natural world, organic or artificial. In her work, none of that is straightforward.
The artist builds sculptures of uncanny, chimerical beings that sit at the edges of biological category. Silicone, fibreglass, human hair. The anatomical fidelity is disarming. Leaning over ‘The Couple’, from 2018 and pictured below, I could have sworn I saw one of the sleeping creatures breathe.
Her figures triggered something in me, but I’m not sure what it was. On the edge of one emotion and another, both unnamable. They have soft skin, realistic eyes, rounded noses, lush manes of hair. And big hairy feet with talons. Freakily elongated faces. Blank expressions.
What’s the overall effect? Body horror isn’t quite right. More body disconcertion. At least the figures care and protect each other, cuddling in bed, regardless of how the viewer feels.
Patricia Piccinini: Holding Tight and Letting Go is at Ames Yavuz (London). 04 June - 11 July 2026