Ron Mueck: Hyper-Realist Sculptor at Brooklyn Museum
The exhibition Ron Mueck includes about 15 mixed media works on loan from the artist’s collection, major museums, and private collections. Mueck employs imitation and illusion to explore the ambiguous relationship between reality and artifice, creating figures that express the contradictions between the real world and the imaginary. The figures seem to be alive: every detail - veins, wrinkles, moles, body hair, rashes - is crafted to such perfection that the result is remarkably convincing and deeply troubling. The size of the works - always smaller or larger than human scale - is equally disconcerting.
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.
His work, while proportionally correct, is either over or under-sized. For example, an enormous 4.5m crouching Boy, a 3 ft tall naked man, a 20 ft long newborn, a replica of his own head (seen above) 6 times its actual size. Consequently his hyper-realistic sculptures, while extraordinarily lifelike, challenge us by their odd scale. The “psychological confrontation for the viewer is to recognize and assimilate two contradictory realities”. However, the real magical appeal of Mueck’s sculptures lie in the meticulous process, which begins with…
October 31, 2007 - Category: Art, Life Story - Posted by: Chantal - Comments: 50
November 7th, 2007 at 7:28 am
[...] I think i may have to go to the Brooklyn Museum to see this… I am very intrigued… [...]
November 7th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
This is some of the most intriguing work I’ve ever seen in my life. Amazing!
November 7th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
[...] Here’s some very odd looking sculptors involving the elderly. http://cubeme.com/blog/2007/10/31/ron-mueck-hyper-realist-sculptor-at-brookliyn-museum/#more-3630 [...]
November 7th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Amazing work
November 7th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
[...] Look at more. [...]
November 8th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
i admire his work! he has mad skill.
November 8th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Ron’s work is unmistakably the most incredible there is in the hyper-realism field!I have admired his work all the way back to his puppetry days.Did you know he worked on the movie Labrynth with David Bowie?
November 9th, 2007 at 10:11 am
there are no words for his talent…
November 12th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Awesome realism!
November 13th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
LOVE THIS GUYS STUFF!
November 14th, 2007 at 1:23 am
Height of imagination…Realism in details…Scaring….
November 14th, 2007 at 1:24 am
High in imagination as well as in rendering details…
November 14th, 2007 at 3:11 am
Did anyone notice how none of the characters look healthy or happy - is this maybe what’s striking a chord with us?
November 14th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
[...] Ron Mueck: Hyper-Realist Sculptor [...]
November 14th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
[...] Ron Mueck: Hyper-Realist Sculptor [...]
November 14th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
He’s such a genius!!!! I’m wowed!!
November 14th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
warhol with talent….
November 16th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
I love how vulnerable they all are…esp the crouching man, women under the sheets and the man in the corner. Even in the couple sleeping you see signs of fear and humanity, and the pain we feel sharing it with others. Worse the pain of confronting it alone. The only ones who seems confidant at all are the pregnant women from the movie..and the artist himself who glares like a mighty Oz.
November 17th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
We have also speak about Ron Mueck in our italian blog!
November 18th, 2007 at 1:49 am
I sit in awe of your skill, what a wonderful eye you have for color.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
[...] CubeMe » Blog Archive » Ron Mueck: Hyper-Realist Sculptor at Brookliyn Museum (tags: art sculpture mueck) [...]
November 25th, 2007 at 1:45 am
It gave me chills…how realistic!
November 28th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
The work is wonderfully creative - it reveals so many emotions - not just the subject. Very thought provoking - it kindles a connection!
November 29th, 2007 at 3:59 am
I am kinda weirded out by this, but I must say this is phenomenal.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
I went to the brooklyn museum to see it when the exhibition opened up- it’s even better in person than in these photos
December 1st, 2007 at 1:24 am
i really admire his work, not just for his great skill, but also his perspective. i see a lot behind the expressions, and i like to see that an artist put a lot of thought into his/her work.
perhaps the fact that no one really appears healthy and perfect adds to the realism?
my favorite is the crouching kid. (i just realized that is the one the closest to my age. how predictable! gaah.)
December 6th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
AMAZING WORK!!!!!!
December 14th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
In een woord geweldig!!!
December 25th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Just Great..wonderful..Amazing..
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:50 pm
this is so amazing, I hope they will show it in Berlin / Germany one day;-)
Léonie.
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I think he worked with David Bowie in some strange movie - just can’t remember the name, but it was a phantasy film.
January 7th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
His work is so realistic it could freak me out.
January 9th, 2008 at 6:08 am
Any exhibition in Europe during this year?
January 25th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
For people in teh UK, there is one of his pieces at the Tate Liverpool, called ‘Ghost’ worth checking out - its part of the permanent collection.
January 26th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Wow…I’d really like to see a real exhibition. Amazing stuff.
January 27th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
i think these are some of the most amazing pieces of art I have ever seen in my life. you are truly blessed with a gift…
February 24th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
To me it is necessary to find
March 4th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
[...] in a similar ‘hyper-realistic’ sculptural style to Ron Mueck, Canadian artist Evan Penny examines the terrain between the real and the replica and our [...]
March 8th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Unbelievable!
March 16th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Those are amazing sculptures - not only are they lifelike, they look a little scary really.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:04 am
[...] On this April 1st… I want you to tell ME what’s wrong with these pictures… other than the fact that they freak me out!!! and if you thought that was bad… check out these morbid sculptures! [...]
April 15th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Wow freaky!
April 19th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
These are mesmerizing!
April 24th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Totally unreal,he is a genius from “out there”.
June 23rd, 2008 at 8:54 pm
The miracle of the ordinary!
Seeing not just looking!
Another fantastic artist from my home town.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 am
wow, these are amazing. definitely worth going to see in person.
July 4th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I like how every piece looks worried or disconnected.
These are amazing.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Finally, REAL art.I am so tired of the conceptualist shit as an excuse for creativity,most notably, the street dog that was tied to the gallery wall and left to strave to death and people watched it suffer!!!
Thank you, Ron Merck, so much for your work, it restores my faith in the creative soul.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
the virtual viewing of his work was an experience in itself!
July 25th, 2008 at 5:46 am
There is no doubt about them. Certainly, they were created by a splendid brain