Featured Artist: Ron Mueck

on Mueck began his career as a puppet and model maker for movies, eventually moving on to create animatronics and models for advertisements. These models dissatisfied him because they were created only to be seen from one angle. Anything beyond the camera frame could be a complete mess. Wishing to create figures that had "a presence" he turned to sculpture where he began constructing human figures in incredible detail.

Mask II, 2001-2002

The thing that makes Mueck so intriguing is that he is a hyperrealist sculptor. All of his figures are meticulously planned in order to faithfully represent the human form. This includes scaling the bodies, crafting pores and wrinkles into the sculptures' skins, and threading real human hair into their heads and bodies. Mueck uses fiberglass resin in order to create a realistic figure that is harder than the usual latex.

Pregnant Woman (close up), fibreglass, resin, silicone, 2002

One of the aspects of Mueck's work is the way he plays with scale. Despite his figures being incredibly realistic, most of his pieces are either much larger or much smaller than real life. He once said "I never made life-size figures because it never seemed to be interesting. We meet life-size people every day."

A girl, 2006


Spooning Couple, 2005

Many of Mueck's works tell subtle stories such as Spooning Couple, which shows a tiny man and woman laying together, the man in a T-shirt and the woman in a pair of underwear. The understated emotion is reflected in the miniature figures.There is no sign of obvious antagonism yet things do not seem to be completely alright. Their expressions and the fact that they both have their eyes open yet are not looking at each other hint that we are witnessing the moment where sexuality evaporates.

All in all, Mueck's work is a fascinating display of dedication to detail and the study of the human form.


In Bed, 2005

Two Women, 2005

Pregnant Woman, fibreglass, resin, silicone, 2002