Australian artist Ron Mueck creates realistic, amazingly detailed sculptures of people but uses scale to add a whole new twist to the way we look at them. He's had an interesting career, first as a model maker and a puppeteer, even working on the film Labrynth. He created his own company in London making hyper-realistic props and animatronics that tended to be viewed from one vantage point before moving to fine art.
According to Wikipedia, Mueck wanted to create sculptures that looked good no matter what angle the viewer took. In 1996 he started focusing on fine art sculptures and found fast acclaim.
It's not hard to see why. The craftsmanship of his work is apparent even from photographs. I've never had the opportunity to see the work in person, but you can imagine that the scale of something like the sculpture below must be pretty breathtaking. There's a real empathy and humanistic quality to the work -- almost as if we are getting a glimpse at a snapshot of a real life.
Mueck doesn't have a website of his own that I can find anywhere, but he has had major exhibitions across the world. Hopefully one will come to Los Angeles soon so I can see these in person.
Michael said:
There is a smaller sculpture of his at the Denver Art Museum. I believe it is a model for one of his larger works. I also saw this on the BBC quite a while ago. From that article I think it was stated that he uses real human hair and places each piece in the sculpture by hand. Regardless it is amazing work.
Jason said:
This is extremely awesome. I'd love to see some of his works in person. Gonna research this guy a bit.....
LVS said:
Mueck is awesome. I've seen some of his work up close. Really really creepy. Its like living in the land of the frozen giants...
