Powerful, inhumanely detailed and, well, really quite disturbing; Ron Mueck’s sculptures are frighteningly real, and utterly fascinating. You literally can’t take your eyes off them. Showing recently at Hauser & Wirth‘s Savile Row gallery, this first major London solo show for over a decade showcased four of the Australian artist’s hyperreal works. Beginning his career in children’s TV, before establishing his own photo-realistic props and animatronics company in London, Mueck enjoys toying with perspective and scale; the sun-basking gentleman is a small-scale sculpture, installed on a whole gallery wall, whilst the dead chicken has been enlarged to human scale.
These pieces may not be as breathtakingly wow as some of his previous works (the likes of Big Baby and Boy), but what they may lack in crowd-pleasing impact, they make up for in emotion and storytelling… you don’t need an explanation to drift into the narrative of Drift or Youth, you could gaze at them for an age, writing your own. Tender and evocative, Mueck’s latest exhibition had us spellbound.
Ron Mueck
Drift, 2009
Mixed media
118 x 96 x 21 cm / 46 1/2 x 37 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
© Ron Mueck
Courtesy Anthony d’Offay / Hauser & Wirth
Photo: John Spiller
Installation view, ‘Ron Mueck’, Hauser & Wirth London, Savile Row, 2012
© Ron Mueck Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Alex Delfanne
Ron Mueck
Woman with sticks, 2008
Mixed media
187 x 230 x 86 cm / 73 5/8 x 90 1/2 x 33 7/8 in (overall)
85 cm / 33 1/2 in (figure)
76 x 143 x 115 cm / 29 7/8 x 56 1/4 x 45 1/4 in (plinth)
© Ron Mueck
Courtesy Anthony d’Offay / Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Mike Bruce
Ron Mueck
Youth, 2009
Silicone, polyurethane, steel, synthetic hair, fabric
65 x 28 x 16 cm / 25 5/8 x 11 x 6 1/4 inches
Plinth: 107 x 40 x 40 cm / 42 1/8 x 15 3/4 x 15 3/4 in
© Ron Mueck
Courtesy Hauser & Wirth / Anthony d’Offay, London
