The Conceptual Framework is a system used by art students to highlight and explain all the information and ideas that consist within and about an artwork. The Framework consists of four agencies; artist, artwork, world and audience. Each of these agencies describe and integral aspect of an artwork. You use all of these agents when interpreting and explain art. You should also attempt to use the Conceptual Framework when shaping and generating your own art making practice.
Definition of the Agencies
Questions you could ask in the ARTIST agent.
Questions you could ask in the Artwork agent
Questions you would ask from the Audience Agent.
Questions you would ask from the World Agent
Now lets apply The Conceptual Framework to an artist.
Artist
Patricia Piccinini is an Australian artist who works across arrange of mediums such as drawing, photography, sculpture and digital media.
Patricia Piccinini intention in the artwork ‘The Young Family’ is to express the expectation we have of growing human organs in other species, especially pigs. Piccinini is interested in
the boundaries between humans, other animals and biologically engineered species; between the real, the imagined and the scientifically possible.
Patricia Piccinini was influenced by the current research into biological engineering and cloning that is being done by scientists. Her artworks also contain a dreamlike quality and have ties with surrealism. The creature in ‘The Young Family’ has certain similarities to the dead creature in Salvador Dali’s ‘The persistence of memory’.
The artist created the sculpture using a combination of materials such as silicone, fibreglass and human hair.
Artwork
The artwork is titled “The Young Family’ or ‘We are Family’, it was made in 2003 for the Venice Biennale.
‘The Young Family’ is a sculptor made out of a combination of materials such as silicone, fibreglass and human hair.
‘The Young Family’ allures people in because of it very realistic appearance, however when drawn closer the audience notices it a dream-like, obscure creature that has been imagined by the artist and begin to have feelings of disgust or pity towards the creature.
The human like realness of the skin along with the pig like representation of the teats and ears symbolises the idea scientist have on growing human organs in other species such as pigs. Piccinini is starting to question the bioethics we have when it comes to science and technology. Should we do something just because we are capable of doing it? The babies could be a sign of the characteristic and similarities we as humans have with the creature, as we both nurture our offspring. This can create a level of empathy with the audience.
Audience
The artists intentions of questioning the boundaries of biological engineering and cloning is conveyed by the very realistic appearance of the creature and begins to get the audience to question a strange new world of artificial or mutant beings derived from experimental biotechnology
Piccinini is attempting to get everybody to question or think about the consequences of biological engineering. An audience of objective observers would relate to this work very differently to relatives of family that have diseases in which biotechnology could save them.
The audience, at first glance, could be disturbed by the creature due to its obscure appearance however on closer inspection when looking at all the similarities the creature has with humans and how life like it appears an audience could start to feel pity or empathy.
‘The Young Family’ was first exhibited in the Australian Pavilion in the Venice Biennale in 2003 and is often exhibited in art galleries. The work is open to the general public however the main audience would mainly be people interested in art and have some level of art knowledge.
World
Piccinini was influenced by the world of science and biotechnologies. She was inspired by the idea of the ‘artificial’ world merging with reality and her own personal fantasy of what the future will become if we continue to progress in biological engineering.
‘The Young Family’ portrays Piccinini’s own fantasy world of a type of hybrid that crosses a human with the genetics of a different species. Her work exhibits a dream-like quality and what Piccinini’s imagination believes to be the future of the world of science.
Activity
Now it's your turn to answer the question about your own artwork you just created. Open an word doc on your computer and attempt to relate two questions from each agent (artist, artwork, audience, world) to your artwork. Take your time and when your finished make sure you save it because you may need it later.
