vince’s ear

Hyperrealism

Some mannequins and statues seem like they’re about to blink, turn to you, or jump out at you at any moment. They don’t seem like inanimate material or something fake. Rather they are like flesh and blood right before your eyes. There’s nothing ideal about them. What you see is an exact 3 dimensional replication of people. This is true of the sculptures of Ron Mueck. Well, “exact” except for size, in most cases.

A realist is any artist who uses their medium to portray subjects realistically from nature. Ron Mueck is what you call a hyperrealist. Like the photorealists such as Chuck Close, hyperrealist painters and sculptors take realism to the next level with a phenomenal attention to detail, being sure to include every hair, every goosebump.

Mueck was born in Australia and is based in Great Britain presently. He started out with puppetry and model making work in fantasy flicks like the 1986 film Labyrinth. Ten years after Labyrinth, the model maker decided to go solo and made the transition into the fine arts with his first major piece Dead Dad.

Scale: Miniature to Monumental

One of the things that sets this artist apart from contemporary sculptors is his use of manipulating scale. This can have a profound psychological effect on us. His people can be meant to tower over us and make us feel insignificant, like Boy (seen above), or on the other hand give us a glimpse at death by showing us a reduced version of a recently living human (such as Dead Dad).

Indeed most of the sculptures are not exactly life size. Dead Dad is only three feet long, while Boy is over thirty feet tall. Most are in between with some people about 1/2 size like the Angel, and others much larger than life like the woman in bed. One of my favorite works is the small old women. Extremely lifelike, as all of the works are, these women are more than just miniature copies of people. It shows emotion- ladies standing secretively gossiping away. They may as well be talking about one of the museum goers.

How Does He Do It?

Most of what you’re looking at is fiberglass or silicon. Much of the larger scale works are mostly fiberglass, save for certain features such as the face, which is silicon so hair can be made to look like it’s growing right out the skin. Much like the methods used for bronze casting, Mueck’s sculptures involve a process of molding and casting.

• First, small studies are made in either plaster or clay until the artist is satisfied with the “pose.”
• Next, a larger armature is made and wrapped in bandages soaked in plaster. Clay is molded around this armature.
• The clay is sculpted to form the person- clay is scraped, smoothed and detailed until the final look is achieved.
• A varnish is applied to the clay, to prevent cracking from taking the mold in the next step.
• Silicon is brushed directly over the figure to form a mold. This silicon will retain every detail. Fiberglass is added to make a sturdy, yet somewhat flexible mold.
• A wooden frame is built around the mold, and is attached to it. The frame is temporarily set aside.
• The mold is carefully removed- at this point the original clay sculpture is not needed and is discarded, the important thing is the mold itself now.
• The mold is put back in the wooden frame and it is ready for casting.
• Before actual casting, a colored resin is painted on the inside of the mold where needed- fingers, where the blood flows close to the skin, etc.
• Another thicker layer of resin is added called the “gel coat.”
• Then fiberglass is filled in, save for the face, and set overnight.
• The mold is carefully removed and the silicon face attached.
• At this point veins, blemishes, shaved hair follicles, etc. are painted on.
• A matte varnish is painted on the body, hair and eyelashes are attached, final details are painted.

It’s a long process but obviously worth it in the end.

Parallels

It’s hard to find much in depth on the highly unique artist himself and I’m not sure where he gets his inspiration. I do, however, notice some similarities in his work to the British painter Lucien Freud. Mueck’s showing of every little imperfection reminds me of Freud’s unforgiving portraits. I look at Mueck’s Big Man and think of Freud’s Nude. I also see Spooning Couple and think of other Freud sleeping paintings.

There’s more than just visual comparisons. There’s also that mood you get when looking at a sculpture by Ron Mueck, which is akin to the somber feeling of Freud’s neutral-colored and melancholy paintings.

Wherever he gets his inspiration, his work is more than just life-like- it’s human. Most of the work is very somber and emotional- with pregnant women, mothers, dead fathers, insecure boys, and just people being people. I’ve seen some hyperrealist sculpture and paintings where it seems that it’s just trying to copy exactly. That can not be said of Ron Mueck’s sculpture, because a mere copy would not be great art. His portrayal of the human form as well as his insight into the human essence is more real than real- it is perfect.

Major Mueck exhibitions have been at the Royal Scottish Academy Building, the Brooklyn Museum and the Modern Museum of Forth Worth. Currently a show is being held at the Warhol in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I would really like to go to it if I can. It’s there until March 30th, two weeks from now. I’ll have to let you know how it goes. I know I couldn’t possibly be disappointed.