Red Portrait, 1997 - Patricia Piccinini

The 'Red Portrait' is a combination of both digital imagery and traditional photography. The work features a nude female model, with a mutated rat on her shoulder. Photography is used to capture the original image of the woman, which makes a start contrast to the hideous rat sitting on her, ear protruding from its back. This rat is clearly not real, and Piccinini has utilised digital technology to create a 3D model, and then superimpose it on top of the original photograph. The artwork has a starkly clean shine to it, and so would probably be printed on glossy paper (it would not be a developed piece of film, as the entire work has been edited on a computer-even the woman's skin appears to be glossed over and touched up digitally).



Ned Kelly, 1946 - Sidney Nolan

Sidney Nolan's large artwork (approx 1 metre by 1 metre) is made with enamel paints on a composition board. To get the right size, Nolan would most likely have cut the backing board himself to the right specifications. His choice of enamel paints allowed him to get the glossy and bright colours seen in the work. Thick, solid brushstrokes are used for the sky and the main creature, while for the earth, many layers of paint are built up over each other to give a sense of depth. Much of the textures are plain and flat, but well ordered, giving the painting a sense of order and composition.