After 20 years’ experience in body painting, Emma Hack continues to develop her art as she tries her hand at new techniques and media. She’s the face – or rather, the hand – behind the impeccable geometric design that transformed Gotye and Kimbra into a pair of shapeless chameleons, and, more recently, the two-storey-spanning mural in Adelaide’s latest celeb-chef establishment, Madame Hanoi.

In Emma Hack – New Works, the Adelaide-based artist showcases her latest experiments in needlework and lenticular printing, combined with her signature body/wallpaper painting.

Her Birds of a Feather series depicts the vibrant, chameleon-style painting we have come to love, with brilliant birds perched on the hands of almost non-existent figures. The warm, natural feel of these pieces are contrasted with her starkly manufactured POP! series, where we see female muses posing as comic-strip heroines.

But the real beauty is in Hack’s wonderful handiwork. Eden comprises three photographs of faceless nudes, which have been adorned with hand-stitched flower motifs. Hack explores the technique of lenticular printing in her Protection series, where intricately crafted paper and lace cutouts have been photographed from different angles and printed to produce illusory, three-dimensional images.

Unfortunately, some of this detail was lost as the glass coverings reflected the vast light from the windows directly opposite, making the works difficult to see in daylight. For better viewing, I would suggest stopping by Hack’s O’Connell Street studio and gallery, where you can also observe the artist at work.

Emma Hack – New Works continues at The Big Slapple until Saturday, March 14.

Words by Amelia Pinna