Ron Mueck's Astonishingly Amazing Detailed Sculpture
Mueck, Ron (1958- ) Ron Mueck is a London-based photo-realist artist.
Born in Melbourne, Australia, to parents who were toy makers, he labored on children’s television shows for 15 years before working in special effects for such films as “Labyrinth,” a 1986 fantasy epic starring David Bowie.
Muek then started his own company in London, making models to be photographed for advertisements. He has lots of the dolls he made during his advertising years stored in his home. Although some still have, he feels, “a presence on their own,” many were made just to be photographed from a particular angle—”one strip of a face,” for example, with a lot of loose material lurking an inch outside the camera’s frame.
Eventually Mueck concluded that photography pretty much destroys the physical “presence” of the original object, and so he turned to fine art and sculpture. In the early 1990s, still in his advertising days, Mueck was commissioned to make something highly realistic, and was wondering what material would do the trick. Latex was the usual, but he wanted something harder, more precise. Luckily, he saw a little architectural decor on the wall of a boutique and inquired as to the nice, pink stuff’s nature.
Fiberglass resin was the answer, and Mueck has made it his bronze and marble ever since. In the three years since his participation in Sensation: Works from the Saatchi Collection, Mueck has posted shows at major galleries in New York, Germany, not to mention selection for the London Millenium Dome and now his work is the subject of a solo exhibition at that city’s highest profile contemporary art space, Anthony d’Offay gallery.
BIG BABY 1996 85 x 71 x 70 cm / 33 1/2 x 28 x 27 1/2 in
Dead Dad (1996-97), silicone, acrylic paint and human hair - a 2/3rds life-size sculpture of Mueck's father lying on his back, naked - Saatchi Collection
BIG BABY 3 1996-97 86 x 81 x 70 cm / 34 x 32 x 27 in
MASK 1997 158 x 153 x 124 cm / 62 x 60 x 49 in
Pinocchio (1996), mixed media - standing boy, perhaps 5 years of age, wearing only underpants. Saatchi Collection
Baby (2000), mixed media - tiny naked newborn baby boy, arms akimbo - Keith and Kathy Sachs
Boy (2000), fibreglass, resin, silicone - a 5 metre tall sculpture of a boy, crouching. First shown in the UK Millennium Dome exhibition. It is now owned by the art museum ARoS in the city of Aarhus, Denmark, who use it as a trademark piece.
Seated Woman (2000), mixed media - 1/2 scale clothed, seated, elderly woman, hands clasped, eyes almost closed - Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Big Man, 2000. Mixed media, 80 x 47 1/2 x 80 1/2 in. (203.2 x 120.7 x 204.5 cm). Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Museum purchase with funds provided by the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest and in honor of Robert Lehrman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, 1997–2004, for his extraordinary leadership and unstinting service to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Mother and Child (2002), fibreglass, resin, silicone - 1/2 scale naked woman who has just given birth, the baby laid on her stomach with umbilical cord still attached and trailing to the woman's womb.
Mask II (2001-2), mixed media. Huge head (the face appears to be Mueck's own), lying on its side as if asleep - private collection. Currently on display at the British Museum
Pregnant Woman (2002), fibreglass, resin, silicone - 2.5 metres tall sculpture of a naked pregnant woman clasping her hands above her head - National Gallery of Australia
Two Women, 2005. Mixed media, 33 1/2 x 18 7/8 x 15 in. (85.1 x 47.9 x 38.1 cm). Glenn Fuhrman Collection, New York
In Bed (2005). Huge woman lying in bed, hand raised to her face in a contemplative pose - Anthony d'Offay
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wow, there is still great artist out there. Cool~
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