The Artists

Sidney Nolan's The Death of Constable Scanlon (1946) was made with ripolin enamel on hardboard. Unlike Piccinini, his works were not three-dimensional installations, but paintings - so natural lighting would be preferred, while higher ceilings or good ventilation would be beneficial, especially with the use of paint materials during the mid 20th century when Nolan was at the height of his career . The Death of Constable Scanlon was 90.4cm x 121.2cm, and this is within his typical dimensions for paintings. He also works on canvas, but typically uses enamel or oil-based paints.



Patricia Piccinini's artwork, The Young Family (2002-3), was made using silicone, leather, polyurethrane, and human hair instead of the much more common horse hair (fitting into the context of the issues related to the artwork such as cloning, gene splicing, and other bioengineering that may be controversial or have social or ethical implications). To achieve such life-like textures, Piccinini would have experimented with many different materials and certainly not limited to only those listed. Mock-ups would have also been created prior to the majority of final artworks. Her studio would need to have plenty of space since her prominent medium is 3D installations - The Young Family was approximately 80cm x 150cm x 110cm.

Click here to see images of these artworks.