10 things inspiring artist and photographer Petrina Hicks right now
Serpentina 1 by Petrina Hicks (2015).
Multi award-winning Australian artist Petrina Hicks is a master of unnerving beauty. Her images have all the gloss and glamour of commercial photography, but they come with a sting in the tail, tacitly chiding us for our obsession with physical attractiveness and consumerism. She draws you in with the flawless skin and sheen of a makeup advertisement, and then spits you out with a strange, stylised animal interaction (see Serpentina 1, above, Shenae and Jade, below).
Shenae and Jade by Petrina Hicks (2005).
Since 2003 Hicks has been working with a model named Lauren who has albinism (pictured below). “I guess she is like a blank canvas,” Hicks told . “I am very interested in the ephemeral or spiritual nature of people, but I am also very interested in sculpture and stone and marble, so I try to make the work somewhere between a ghost and a sculpture,” she says. For an artist who wants to make skin look like stone, ethereal Lauren is a dream subject.
Blue Bird by Petrina Hicks (2018).
While studying journalism Hicks discovered she had a talent for photography, so she changed courses and graduated from ANU School of Art with a degree in photomedia. In the early 2000s she worked as a commercial photographer – until her anarchic artist’s eye got the best of her. “I was interested in [the place where commerce and art] met and tricking people,” she says. “Often, I would do a commercial job and make it look like an artwork, and artwork that could be mistaken for commercial photography. I was interested in that slipperiness between the two mediums, what lay between.”
Birds Eye by Petrina Hicks (2018).
Below, Petrina Hicks shares some of the things that have been inspiring her recently with Vogue Living.
Favourite museums
National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
I was overwhelmed by the collection of ancient Mexican art from Maya, Olmec and Aztec periods.
Amparo Museo, Puebla, Mexico
Such a beautiful museum! I was so inspired by the ancient stone and clay figurines exhibited alongside contemporary art.
Birth of Venus by Petrina Hicks (2013).
Favourite films
Fargo (1996) is an all time favourite, I love Frances McDormand! Also, Jane Campion’s The Piano (1993)
Favourite artworks
I’m currently obsessed with sculpture, figurines and ceramics by female artists, including Louise Bourgeois, Untitled (With Foot. No.2) and Linda Marrinon’s figure sculptures.
Lauren and Python by Petrina Hicks (2018).
Favourite food
Anything from Nonie’s Food in Sydney, they have best gluten-free bread and amazing gluten-free tortillas!
Favourite scent
Anything from Ayu perfume – their products are blended in Australia using traditional Ayurvedic herbs and divine fragrances, and they have a very grounding and calming effect.
New Age by Petrina Hicks (2013).
Favourite plant
Succulents and cacti. I’m in love with their perfect shapes and their colour palette of pastel green hues, pinks and purples
Favourite animals
Lady beetle! I think my spirit animal must be the lady beetle, I see them everywhere, it’s quite uncanny. I also love the colour of the Australian Olive Python – I recently made a slow-motion meditative study of a python circulating a Greek vessel. Titled Ouroboros, it references the ancient symbol of snake eating its own tail, exploring infinity and the cyclic nature of the cosmos and the transcendence of duality.
Birdfingers by Petrina Hicks (2013).
Bruised Peaches by Petrina Hicks (2018).
Petrina Hick’s exhibition at This Is No Fantasy gallery, titled The Gazed, runs from September 18 until October 27 . Her exhibition at The National Gallery of Victoria, titled Bleached Gothic, runs from September 27 until March 29 (and will also be available as a book).
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