Patricia Piccinini

Big Mother set to polarise

Valued at more than $200,000, the sculpture - Big Mother - is by contemporary Australian artist Patricia Piccinini.

The gallery says the piece is likely to become one of its most talked-about works and is the single most expensive piece of contemporary art it has added to its collection in recent times.

It was bought entirely with donations from gallery benefactors.

Piccinini says the work was inspired by the story of a baboon whose infant died while she was nursing and who then abducted a human child as a substitute.

The artist says she will not be surprised if the sculpture polarises the public.

"The work is very much about the way we deny our animalness," Piccinini said at the launch.

Big Mother is 1.7 metres high and made from fibreglass, silicone, leather and human hair.