Patricia Piccinini, The Lovers, 2011

2011

Medium

fiberglass, auto paint, leather, scooter parts

Dimensions

2 × 80 cm

Edition

edition 3 of 3

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-1164584

This piece speaks to the imminent potential of artificial intelligence—of technology becoming self- sufficient and self-perpetuating. By representing two Vespa-type scooters as sentient beings— wild deer wrapped in a tender embrace— Australian artist Patricia Piccinini (Sierra Leone, 1965-present) asks us to envision the possibility of machines having lifecycles, falling in love and potentially reproducing...leading to the both unnerving, and— given modern advances— quite conceivable, possibility of a world in which technology, like nature, is not within our control. But despite its potentially unsettling connotations, The Lovers is extraordinarily beautiful. Sensual and impeccably crafted, Piccinini’s work refers both to the culture of custom-made vehicles, and the California Finish Fetish movement of the 1960s and 70s. At its core, this is a piece about love and control, or rather, a lack of control. We can’t control who we love, nor can we control who anyone else loves; just as we can’t control nature, and potentially, the future of technology.