I don’t often devote a lot of attention to sculpture, but, as I noted in my recent post on Claes Oldenburg, one of the things art does at its finest is to shake up our preconceptions and show us the world with fresh eyes.
Ron Mueck’s astonishing sculptures of ordinary, non-heroic people do just that. Usually unclothed, his figures are strikingly realistic in terms of the physical appearance of flesh, hair, and the textures and colors of human beings; right down to finger and toenails, blemishes and moles, goosebumps, individual head and body hairs inserted one by one, and the appearance of superficial veins beneath the skin.
Life-like replicas of human beings, no matter how realistic, would not in themselves necessarily alter our perceptions. Mueck does that by ingenious manipulation of scale. His spookily human sculptures are not life size. Some are gargantuan, others slightly larger than life, like his eight foot high standing pregnant woman, some are quite small and others are about half life-size, like his startling sculpture of his dead father, which helped establish his reputation as a gallery artist.
Mueck’s sculptures are made of fiberglass and silicone and crafted with techniques Mueck acquired in his previous career as a special effects artist, working on such films as Labyrinth.
You may have seen mention on the web of his earlier, somewhat grotesque, giant babies, but I think his more recent and sophisticated work is much more interesting.
In 2006 the National Gallery in London invited Mueck to become an artist in residence and create sculptures inspired by works in the museum’s collection of old masters. There is a half-hour documentary that gives a brief overview of Mueck and his work and follows him through the extensive and painstaking process of creating his sculpture of the standing pregnant woman.
Mueck starts with the traditional sculptor’s path of sketches, preliminary clay sculptures, a small but detailed maquette and then a full size, fully realized clay sculpture. It is in the casting in fiberglass and modeling in silicone that the process diverges from the traditional methods of casting in bronze.
Even in photographs, the realism and the element of scale make Mueck’s work striking. I haven’t had the chance to see his sculptures “in the flesh”, so to speak, but the effect must be startling.
Note: Some may consider his realistic depictions of naked humans NSFW.
[Suggestion courtesy of Kevin Sparkman]
Yes, prior to Mueck’s arrival on the art scene, realistic depictions of the human body were produced exclusively at life size.
Instant kitsch.
He’s certainly not the only one, but if you look through the video from the National Gallery at the details in the sculpture of the woman, and the quality of the initial maquette and full size clay sculpture, you may get a better idea of why I was impressed. It’s a long way from Mdme Toussaud’s. ;-]
amazing. jaw dropping. Incredible.
i just saw this exhibit at the fort worth modern art museum and it was so surreal. it seemed as if the pieces were alive and in a frozen state. i was almost waiting for them to move and talk to me.
I saw the Modern exhibit of Ron Mueck’s work and was so impressed I blogged about the experience today. The video showed the process involved in the production of the pregnant woman but it was not in the Fort Worth show.
http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com
My friend and I love Ron Mueck’s work and were frustrated in trying to find his exhibit schedule. So we just made a little website to help others find where his work is being exhibited. Leads and links are appreciated. Thanks!
Where can l go to see an exhibition of Ron Mueck,l just cant believe how life like the sculptures are,l would love to see them,l live in London,Dec 2007