Ron Mueck

Editorial

You can’t help but be moved, whether it’s bewildered, horrified or simply amazed, by your first encounter with a Mueck sculpture.

Using fibreglass resin as his preferred material, Mueck creates what’s known as ‘hyperrealist’ human sculptures – or the realistic rendering of humans in sculpture. With no formal art training behind him, Melbourne-born Mueck, who began his career as a model maker and puppeteer, soon moved into the creation of photo-realistic props used in the advertising industry which quickly led to an obsession – the desire to create perfect human-like images, meticulous in every detail of the human form. In 1996, Charles Saatchi became a collector, showcasing Mueck’s Dead Dad, a silicone and mixed media model of his father reduced to two-thirds of his natural size, which had its premiere in the now famous Sensation exhibition held in 1997.

Following that infamous exhibition, Mueck’s work was thrust onto the international stage where it has remained as he continues to surprise, shock, delight and inspire fans of figurative sculpture, as well as attracting new fans, many of whom are new to the form and have never before seen anything quite like the work Mueck produces.

With Mueck’s rockstar status firmly in place, the NGV’s exhibition of his work, the largest and most comprehensive ever staged in Australia, is sure to attract record crowds and spark plenty of conversation. The exhibition will comprise of 12 works, including four new sculptures that promise to astonish Mueck’s hometown audience.

The NGV’s curator of Australian Art, David Hurlston, describes Mueck’s sculptures as 'illustrating timeless human conditions from birth to demise' – and Mueck succeeds in this with humanity and decency. When I think back to my first real taste of contemporary British art in that famous 1997 showcase, Sensation, it was that decency and humanity I responded to in Mueck’s work that set him apart from the others, and left with me a lasting impression that you just have to experience to understand. Thankfully, this summer the NGV International is extending an opportunity for all of us to experience Ron Mueck, the master of contemporary sculpture.

Cath Pope, Citysearch

Home page image:
Ron Mueck
Woman with sticks, 2008/09 (detail)
silicone, wood, synthetic hair, polyurethane, steel
170 x 183 x 120cm approx
Private Collection, Geneva, Switzerland
© Ron Mueck courtesy Anthony d'Offay, London