‘Worlds within Worlds’ explores how the symbolic and stylistic features of art from the Baroque period (around 1600–1750) have been invoked by contemporary artists, who — like their predecessors of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries — are reflecting on a world in flux.
These works suggest parallels between Baroque and contemporary artists in their desire to interrogate structures of religion and power, the changing relationship between humans and nature, and ideas of decay and destruction.
Image: Patricia Piccinini, Australia b.1965 / The stags 2008 / Fibreglass, automotive paint, leather, steel, plastic, tyres / Two pieces: 177 x 183 x 102cm and 147 x 90 x 101cm; 196 x 224 x 167cm / Purchased 2009 with funds from the Estate of Lawrence F King in memory of the late Mr and Mrs SW King through the QAG Foundation and the Queensland Government’s Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Patricia Piccinini
