RP5 Ron Mueck 05s

8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s

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*'na

Ron

Mueck at the National

Gallery

Ron

Mueck's lngel rnade

in

rgg7, is

a

small

rraked figure

with

an

impressive

pair

of

feathered wings.

Seated on a stool, he strikes a

thoughtful

and slightly

melancholy

pose. The scale

of

the figure is less incongruous

than other Mueck

sculptures,

as

it

is perhaps

easier to accept the apparent miniaturisation

of

a

Iigure

purportingto

come from another rl'orld. As with Mueck's

other pieces,

however,

there is

still

the compulsion

to examine the figure's surface as closely

as possible,

to

scrutinise every detail. The rvings are made

of

goose feathers

and

are

utterly

convincing: if angels do

exist,

it might

not

be

a

surprise to find they

louk

like

this.

/-f

o?

lzgel has

ar

unexpected

solrrce: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's .4ltegory u,ith

tr'enus and

Timz fuorrl the National Gallerv

(overleaf).

Tiepolo's representation

of

Time inspired Mueck to make his

own

*'inged

character Othersubjects

Mueck

addressed in the late rggos include self portraiture,

birth

and ageing, all

timeless and

traditional

themes.

'fhese

links between Mueck's work and the art

of

the past prompted

the National Gallery to approach hirrr to become its fifth

Associate

Artist.

There was

another significant reason for the

invitation,

narnely the

high

starrdards

of

craftsmanship that i\Iueck

demands

of

himself.

Craftsmanship

and

skill

dominate

the history

of

Western

at

right

up

until

the Modernist

revolution

that started in the last part

of

the

nineteenth

century

Since

then, the

acquisition

and use

of

marrual skills has been downgraded in terms

of artistic

status,

while

at the same time the idea,

or concept, has advanced. From the

deliberate

crudities

of

Cubist

collage onr,vards,

there

have

been

few

significant.

movements

in

the

twentieth

century that have required a high level of

technical

skill.

The great exccpLions were

the

remarkable

German artists oI

the

NeLre

Sachlichkeit such

as

Otto Dix, Georg Grosz or

Christian

Schad,

who

emerged in the rgzos and rvhose intense

and hyper real paintings owed

a decp

debt to

their

German predcccssor, Albrecht Diirer

Mueck

similarly

,


3/39

has

German

roots.

His

mother

arrd

father

were

both

German,

and

emigrated

to Australia

before

Mueck

was

born.

The language

of

his

childhood

home

was

German.

Comparison

of

Mue

ck's Dead

Dad.

(page

45)

with

The

Painter's

Father

(page

5g),

attributed

to Diirer,

is

instructive.

The

surface

detail

in

both

works

is

focused

upon

minutiae,

the

textures

of

ageing.

Both

share

an exact

and

obsessive

observation,

as

the

stubble

pushes

its

way

through

the skin.

Mueck's

experience

in

the special

effects

industry

has

given

hirn

a highly

accomplished

range

of skills.

Only

rarely

will

he

employ

professional

technicians

to help

produce

his

i

g

,

^

rerucrance

to

emproy

assistants

perhap.

iil*,..

;XlitflJ,i.tilr'I;f

ffi::

trJ"i

thataretoop

vate

and

personal

to entrust

to anorher

pair

of

hands.

,

Occasionally

Mueck

will

use an

assisrant

for

those

jobJwhere

there

are

no

h

al:

-

creatrve

chorces

to

be made_

A

n assistant

might,

for

example,

be ent

xted

with

repetirive

rasks

such

as

making

the

inrlividual

hairs

or producingthe

textures

for

goose-flesh,

but

onry

\rueck

can rnake

decisions

about

how

the

work

will

look.

Occasionally

shoull

he

make

a

second

version

of a

piece,

he

will

allow

arr

assisrant

to help

him

with

the

casting

and

to

complete

some

of

the more

tedious

processes,

such

as filling

a mould

with

layers

of

silicone.

Even

then,

he

will

insrst on closely

super\

islngc\erv

stagp.

The

reasons

are

clear

For

Nlueck,

the

making

of

the

piece

is

a

crucial

part

Ciorann,

Barnra

f

ie .lo (,6otj-r?,o)

,4n

.1U2Eo.

uith

tlenu

an.l

TinE.

'l

he

Naiionat

Gall.rx

t-ndor


4/39

of

its meaning.

Hc seenis

ro fiel

a

psycholodcal

bond

wirh

the pieces

he

makes,

to

forgc arr intimate

rclarionship

that

excludes

any

third

party.

The

artist,s

reluctance. rcfusal

cr.cn.

to discuss

these

issues

-

which he

considers

of

no

concern

to anyone

else is

itself

of

interest.

Mueck's

process

is

r.elativeiy

conventional.

Initial

ideas are

tested

with

small

plastermaqucttes.

and

the

final

piece

begins

with

a sculpture

made

of

clay For the

smaller

\\'orks,

this

is

supported

with

a wire

armature

of

exactly

the

sarne

type

that l)egas,

for

example,

used for

his rvax

sculptures.

For

the

bigger picces,

the

clay sculpttrre

is supported

by a large

assemblage

of

scaffolding

that

is co.r.ered

lvith

chicken

wire and

tllen

rvrapped

in layers

of

scrirn soaked

in wet

plaster

l\:hen

the clay

sculpt is

complete,

he

takes

a

mould

from it

and then

casts it

out

in silicone

or fibreglass,

to which he

has already

&elrr

dded colour. Aside

frorn

his choice

of

material

for the

final

piece,

this

method

y.":

is exactly

the

same

as

that

of

Donatello,

Rodin

or the

ancient

Greeks wher

'

I tdo+

'

ti,r*"

s exactly

the

same

as

that

of

Donatello,

Rodin

orthe

ancient

Greeks when

'

l,ffi1

casting

in

bronze-

Although

this sounds

simple

there

are

always risks.

Mueck's

work

is

dependent

on absolute

perfection

lor its

effect.

The

slightest

trace

of

a

seam

or any

other technical

blelrrish would

ruin

the

illusion

and

the

piece

would

lose

its power

Mueck's

sculptures

have

been

compared

to lr.axworks,

but close

'

exarnination

of

a waxwork

will

always

reveal

the piece

for what

it

is:

the surface

always

appears

dead. Mueck's,works

draw

spectators

towards

them,

enticirrg

viewers

to examine

as

closely

as

possible

every pore and

alatomical

detail

with

a

kind

of

gruesome

fascirration,

as

if they

AcrAX

Lorenzo

Cosra

(about

,459/60

,5jrl

vtrh

Gianfran.eso

Maineri

(n.rirr

r+3q

rio6)

1 h. Ynkin

a%l

Chitd

Edh.an"d

(t,a

Pdb

Stroz.i),

rnoltab\

\$o

oil

nd

rempra

on wtul

'l'Ie

National

Gallery,

London


5/39

Boiri"

are

trying

to catch the artist

out- But they never

do

-

and the uncanny lifelike

quality of

Mueck's

sculptures leaves the possibility, lurking in the

back

of

one's

mind,

that

some other, sinister, process has been employed in

their

creation.

Mueck moved

into

his

National

Ga1lery

studio in August

rg99. The brief

for

the

Associate

Artist

is to make work in response to the National

Gallery's

collection-Aware

of

thc danger

of

pastiche, Mueck was

reluctant to force

links

or to make literal

fanscriptions

of

National

Gallery

paintings.

At

the

beginning

of

his

tenure

he carried on

working

as

if he had not moved into the

National

Gallery at all, expressing the

hope that

the collection would influence him

subliminally.

During

his

first

monrhs

in

rhe studio he produced much

of the

work for his

second

solo show at the Anthony d'Offay

Gallery,

held

in

zooo.

Mast in Raincoat, Big Man,

Mash I

and the

little

wall-mounted

-BaDjr

(see

cover)

weie all made

in

the

National

Gallery

As he approached

the end

of

his

period

of

appointnent

Mueck expressed disappointment that more

explicit

links had

not developed. However, despite the artist's

reseryations,

the themes

that

he has

dealt

with

do connect

powerfully

with the

Gallery's collection.

Indeed, he

cites

the wall-rnounted babies

as

the

first pieces

that he made consciously influenced

by his

time

in

the

National Gallery. He was

particularly

struck by

arr

earlv

sixteenth century

altarpiece

by

Lore.zo

Costa and Gianfra

n .".oMluin"iiid&M

which

the Christ

Child

seems to stand almost completely unsupported by his

molher,

as

confident,

independent and arvare as

arry adult. Something of

Ithe

same

spirit

inhabits Mueck's

babies.

They seen

so

tiny

and

fiail, yet rhey

,

convince us that they can

feel and

think

for

themselves.


6/39

Mother and

Child

The

lirst

piece

Mueck

made specilically

for

his

exhibition

at

the

National

Gallery was

Mother

and

Child.,

which

can be

seen as

a logical

complement

to

Dead.

Dad

(page

45)-

The mother

is

similar

in scale

to

the earlier

work

but

is alive,

playing

her role

at the

start

of life, rather

tJral

its

end.

It is

Mueck,s

only

piece

to

date to show

more

than

a

single figure,

nld

there_by

implies

a

relationship,

albeit

one rhat

has

hardly

had

rirne

ro

form.

Mueck

has

made

prer.ious sculptures

of

babies

on a

larger

than

life

scale,

so his

return

to

the

subject is not

a complete

surprise,

whereas

his

frank

and

unprece


7/39

artworks rather than

froln

life- Fur'thermore,

artists were

always under pressure

to conform to time honoured arrd

salctified

patterns,

conscious

tbat they were

not

simply

replesenting

an ordinary baby.

When

Mary

and the newborn

Christ

Child

are depicted,

the t\Mo characrers

are usually shown

as

having already formcd

a

bond: either rhc

conventional

mother-and-child relationship

of

mutual affection

and care, or a demonstration

of religious devotion. Mueck's sculpture

shows the

mother-child

bond being

formed in

front of

our

eye-s:

the

child

arrir.ed

just

seconds ago. It glistens

with

mucus, the

umbilical

cord is

still

attached,

the rnorher's

stomach has

not

yet begun to contract- The mother remains

in the birthing

pose,

with

legs

splayed and knees up. Her body is

still

tense

after the pains

of

her labour. She

seems

unsure

about what to

do

with

herhalds and ]ooks

down at the

child

with an expression verging on the

blanktess

of

shock-

'I'his

chilil

is hers,

of

her flesh,

butthe love that she knows she should

feel has not yet had

time to

ma-nifest itsel

f-

Although

this

sculpnre

adds

to a

long

tradition,

Mueck

has chosen a

moment that, significantly, has always been

avoided

in

Christian art. By

treating

an instant

of

utmost privacy

-

before any

emotional

tie

has been formed

-

and

displaying it for

our

scrutiny,

the artist seems to

be inviting

us

ro pry.

Some

will feel uneasy aboui having such

unrestricted

access

to this wolnan's body


8/39

as

they

succumb

to the temptatioD

of

focusingmore and more

upon those parts

of

her

that we are used lo understandirrg

as

private. Ilowever, the scale,

at

approximately

half

life

size,

effectively

keeps

us

at

a

safe

psychological distance

fronr the couple.

lrye can look at her safe

in

the knowledge that shr-- will

not

return

our gaze, that she cannot see us. The

rniniaturisation

gives thc

sculptun'

ar

intense

ard

precise hpcr

reality,

it is akin to studying

somethiug

through

the

wrong

end

of

a telescope. Tbe scale reminds us that she is, after

all

and

despite

appearances, only

a sculpture-

The mother is not

a

portrait

of

any specific person but an

inlaginary

type.

Nlueck did, on occasion,

work

with

a

model

while

rnaking

the piece but

only

because

he

felt

the

need

for

direct

observation

of

details

such

as

harrls

and

feet.

His other

principle

sources

were photographic,

particularly

medical textbooks.

'l

he

babv squints through

almost

closcd

eyclids,

open

just

enough for

it

to

v iew

for thc first

time

the person responsible for its entry

into

the

world.

Curiously,

the baby has

a

distinct persr:'nality and see : ls to llave emerged

of

ils owr

volition,

crawling

instinctively

and

urraided to its presenr position. The impli

cation is

that this

birth

was unattended by any outside parties:

doctor.

midwife

or

partncr The

child

already has a free will, an independence that casts the act

of

leaving

its mother's womb

as the

first stage

of a

journey

that

will

inevitably

end

with

the

child

leaving

its

mother

as adulthood is attained.


9/39

Mueck

never

disputes

that

his

work

has autobiographical

content-

He

was

present

ar

the birh

of

his

two

daughters,

and

it

seems

inevirable

that

he

drew

upon

these experiencesr

profound

yet commonplace,

when

making

this

piece.

Technically

and

tvpically

for

Muech,

ir i

s

a tour

deiforce

_

The

mother

and

child

were

cast

separarcly,

both in

libreglass.

Fibreglass

is

hard

and has

*re

physical

advantage

over

silicone

that

any

seams

still visible

after

the

casting

plocess

can

be

filed

away.

However,

its

rigidiry

does not

allow

the insertion

of

indivirlual

hairs,

which

must

be glued

on to

the surface.

As l\,Iueck,s

sculptures

invite

such

close

inspection

t-his

gave

hirn

a

problem,

because

glued-on

eyebrows

alcl

eyelashes

can never

look

completely

authentic.

.l.his

was

not

an issue

with

the

pubic

harx

which could

be

glur-d

on

salcll

becauscrLesrickr

messol

rhe

alterbirth

acts

as

canouflage,

but

it was

a

challenge

for

the

mother,s

head.

To

resolve

this

difficulty,

Nlueck

cast

our another

lace

from

rhe

original

mould,

this time

using

silicone.

Silicone,s

rubber

like

qualiry

enabled

rhe

artist

to

punch

the

individual

hairs

in,

one

by one,

mahing

them

look

as

iI

they

are

acrually

grolving

through

the

skin.

Nlueck

then

removerl

the

original

fibreglass

face

and

replaced

it rvith

the

new

silicone

one- IIe

was

careful

to cut

along

a

crease in

the mother's

neck

and consequently

affixed

the

new face

invisibly.

For

Mueck,

technical

problerns

like

these

become

creative

problems.

The

decision

to

embark

upon

a

particular

sculprure,

and

then

the

actual

makinp,of


10/39

it,

are

not two

processes: the concept and the rnaking are inseparable. Each

new

sculpture

presents

the atist

with

another set

of

problems,

often unforeseen.

By solving

these

problems

successfully,

the

artist

cements

his

emotional

bond

with

the sculpture-

Man

in

a

Boat

'llrc

Man

in

a Boat consists of

a naked

man,

iust

over

half life-size,

seated

l'acing

lbrrvard in

a

rolving boat.

It is the only piece in tlte

exhibition thai

does

not

deal

explicitly

with the rheme

of

birth

and motherhood.

However, seen

in

the

context

of

the other pieces

Nlueck has made for the show rt happrh' takes

a

place

as

a metaphorical

representation

of

bifih. The

Virgin

Ma:y

has long been

described as the vessel

through

which

Christ

came to the

world

antl

the ship,

or

naois institttis,is

arraditional

s1rmbol

of

the Immaculate

Concepiion,

Mueck

was unaware

of

this

when he started

r

rork on tl:e piece, and expressed both

delight

and amusementTvhen

he learned

that

orre

of

his favourite

National

Gallery painrings,

7/r

Immaculate Conceprroz

by Diego Vel6zquez,

which

is

unarlbiguously

about birth,

includes a tinv representation

of

a ship, set among

an

array

of

other syrnbols,

at the bottom

of

the picture.

NIueck

did

not

consciously

choose the subiect

as

a binh metaphor:

he er-en


11/39

doubts that

the theme

of

his National Gallery

exhibition

should

be construed as

'birth',

preferring

instead t-he

idea

of

containment-

The irrfant in the womb, tle

Su,ad.dled

Baby

ard, the

ltran in the boat

all share

a

physical limitation

on

their

movernent

that both

reshicts aIld

protects.

Mueck bought

the boat,

which

was

lying

derelict,

from

a group

of

Sea

Cadets. He.was

initially

motivated by the

necessity

of

producing a

long and

narrow

sculpture to

fill a

particular

space for a proposed

exhibition

in Ne.w

York.

'l44ri1e

trawling through

old

skerches looking

for ideas, Mueck chanced upon an

o1d

drawing

of a

man

in a boat and

so

the

idea was born. As

it

turned out,

the

piece

was not linished

in time

for

rhe

New York show.

The

figure

is made

from

silicone,

a choice

of

material

dictated

by Mueck's

desire

to

give

him

boily

hair Accordingly, the

artist's

principal

technieal

difficulty

was to cast

the sculpture

with no visible searas because

with silicone,

unlike

fibreglass, these

cannot be

filed away. Mueck

rnade

the

rnould

so

as to

minimise

the exposeil seams, but

even then he could

not avoid

having

one

join

where the sides

of the

rloulal

come together

and where,

had the

casting not been successful,

a

seam would have been

very eviderrt,

ruining

the piece. An initial casting

was

a failure,

anil

Mueck was forced

to mahe another

Inould from

the

original

clay.

Further

trial castings

proved

problematiq

but the

final

piece came

out

of

the

rnould

with no

seam evident-

Mueck claims that

this

was more by luck than

iudgement

because the pieces

of

the

mould

always expand

in

unpredictable

Dj€eo

velau quez

G599-,66o)

Thelmruulat Cou.prion,

^bont

r6'a

The Narional Galery. London


12/39

places

while

drying, and

the abutting

edges are almost

impossible

to keep in

Precise

register.

Removing the finished

piece from

the mould is

not an easy process,

as

silicone

is easily stretched

out

of

position

or torn, which rvould

render

several

weeks'

work

wasted, ald it was

a mornent

of high

tension when

the

successful

cast

was extracted. Jruithout

wishing

to stretch

a

point,

it

is not unlike

witnessing a

birth-

Liquid

soap

is

used to lubricate

the lirnbs,

which

are half

e-ncouraged

and half

forced to

slither

out, accompanied

by

alarming

squelching

and popping sounds.

In

its linished

and displaved

srate the

ligure

is supported

on

a

metal armature

because silicone

will

not support itseli

Consequently,

when

the figure emerged,

he

was

dripping

with the green

slime

of

rhe

soap arrd

flopping

aboutlike

a fish on dry land.

The rime,

effort

and emol.ion invested

in

making

the piece

heightened the

final

momenr

of

triumpb

for the artist-

The scale

of

the figure, relative

ro

the

viewer

alld to

the boat irself, puts

one

in

mind

of Gulliver,

and it is

aiso hard not

to think

of

Pinocchio

-

anorher

allegorical

traveller- and of rhe

strange paternal relationship

between

the

craftsman

and his finished

product.

Mueck laughs at and

derides such ideas,

perhaps

righ

y-

IIe

does

not

deny

though,

the

element

of self-portraiture

present

in

this work- The initial

clay sculpture

was made using

his own body

as

a reference.

He examined closely his

halds

and his

feet and

incorporated

them


13/39

into his work. He looked

at the

texture of

his

own skin and tried

to

lind

ways

of maLing an accurate impression

of

it.

In

the past he

has used his own face

to

work from, rrost notably in

the over life-size

self-portrait Maslt. Ihile

rhe

Man

in a Boatlooks

nothing like

t}re artist,

it can

still

be

undersrood as havirre

aspects

of

self-portraiture.

By placing

tlre figure in

a

vessel,

the sculpture

immediately

qains

a

narrative aspect, Mueck's earlier

single

ligure

sculptures are in

static poses,

either

passive

or

quiet\

introspective.

This

figure ho*'ever,

has his neck

slightly

stretched and his quizzical

expression irrdicates

a curiosity about what

lies

ahead. The movement is subtle but

it

is there, none

the less, and gives

the

ligure

an out.lvard-looking

aspect

unseen in

i\{ueck's previorrs rvork,

N'Iueck

suggests

rhat this

might

be because, rvhile

rvorking in

the National

Gallery

he was rn

daily contact with a range

of different

people who would

visir

his

studio irnd

discuss

the

work in

progress,

Tvhereas

his

usual practice

is

to

work

in

isolation.

The

understated

naLsre

of Man

in

a Boaa's animation

orves somerhing

to the

failure of a

previous piece. a srnall

sculpture

of

an old woman u.ith r.vide

opet


14/39

eyes

and

a

broad

smile. Despite

being executed to Mueck's

customary high

standards,

he reiected

this

figure.

Although it

functioned perfectly

as

a

technical

exercise, Mueck

felt that

it

communicated

no sense

of

the mystery or

psvchologv

that is so

important

in

his work- The artist r:oncluded

that his

mistake

was an atternpt

to make a sculpture

that

freezes arl active

pose,

rather

than

one that

implies the

potential

for activity-

Consequently, the neck

rnovenrent

of the Maz

is so slighr as to be almost unnoticeable.

I'art

of

making re piece

involved

deciding exactly

wltere

in the boat rhe

ligure

should sit and

which

rvay he should lace- Each new position

openeri up

different

possibilities:

is he trarclling towards sornewhere, or leaving something

behind? Is he in control

of

his own desliny or at the u,him

of

chanc.e? l)oes

he

wony

about

his late or is he indifferent to it? The boat has no means of

propulsion,

so

the

implication

is that he is has no control

over either his destirry

or destination. However,

placing

hirn

boldly at the

front

srrggests

he is

travelling

loruardsandisrurious.whrch.LdC..tctlrerrrrplir:rricn:cIIhcsl:ght1..rra:r:ng

rreck,

Nllueck

originally

intended that the ,|1aa should face backwards and be

seated

in

the centre

of

the boat,

but rvhen he

r.ras

placed in

the centre, the

vessel

seemed

to lose its sense

of

impetus,

appeaing

becalmed or drifting slo*.ly.

'l

his position

did

nrake rhe

formal

links w tth

the Mothzr and

Chikl

rnore

apparent,

howe\.er- Both works

represent

small

ligures

perclted on top

of

mr.rch


15/39

larger recumbent

forms that can

be understood

as taking theln

on an

unpredirtable

iourney.

Another earlier

idea was to

place a

tar?aulin

behind the figure,

covering

an

ar.angement

of

unseen

packages.

Viewers would know

then that he

bad

raken something

with

him

from his

past

life that

might

be

of

use

in the

future,

This

idea

was only reiected

at

a relatively

late stage, and

Mueck decided

to allow the

llgure

in the boat

to have

nothing. Despite the

vulnerability

of

his nakedness

the

little rnan

seems

safe enough,

for now at

leasl

The boal

provides

a

protective

cocoon

around

him. But all

journeys

must come

to an

end

and

the

Maa

will

one day

be no longer

protected, forced to

face

the

world

to

which

the boat delivers

him. Once

again, the

metaphor

of

birtl

s,rooests itself.

PregnanlY,'ornan

Nlueck

inrends

his Pregz ant

Woman robe

approached

from

behind. Only

by

investigating

the

work

further, by

walking

around it, should

the viewer

he

able

to discover

the

woman's

pregnanc.y.

From

behind,

she

is

simplv

an

over_sized

woman

with stocky

proportions,

holding her

arms above her head.

Despite

being

made

from

unyielding

fibreglass,

she looks fleshy and

sofr' The

pose,


16/39

with

her arms abovc her head, makes

her appear to be resting,

contemplative,

caughi

in

a private mornent. As \Mith

all

of

Mueck's pieces re surface

detail

is

noticeable

even

from

a distance, but the

temptation

to colne

in

close is

irresistible.

Veins, moles and areas

of

goose

flesh

become

visible,

all executed

with

the artitst's customarlr

uncorrpromising

exactitude. The feet and

hands

are

especially.ir-rrPressive.

As

we move

around the sculpture, her massive protuberance is

revealed.

This

hugely swelling belly, with the

shin stretched to

breakingpoint,

invades

the

spectators' space and is

of

sufficient

proportioil

to

indicate

that t}le

child

within

is nearing

the end

of

its

term.

Mueck makes us r,isualise

the position

of

the

child's

head and limbs,

as

it

curls up in foetal safety before

it

bursts out

ro arlive

in

the

world,

'N{ueck

started work on Prcgnant l,lloman

in

his

usual way, by

making

a

se-ries

of

small

plaster

-Inaquettes

around

Iifteen centimetres

tall.

They

all tal


17/39

period

of

nearly

three

months,

starting

when

she

was

six_months

Pregnant'

Nevertheless, despite

her

crucial input,

the

piece

is

in

no

sensc

a

portrait

Mueck

fbunrl

himseif

choosing

rlifferent

parts

of different

models

in

exactly

the

same

way

t-hat

the

Classical

Greek

painter

Zcuxis

.(lras

rePuted

to have

done'

lle

also

o"ed

photographic

,ources

aral eve

looked at

himself

in

a mirror

rvhcn

he

was

having

particular

diflicuhy

with

theposition

of

the arms

The

firrished

piece

is two

and

a

half

metres

tall

N{ueck

is reluctant

to statc

reasons

lor

his choice

of

scale,

but

once

he

had decided

ro

make

the

rvoman

larger'*ran

life, there

was

srill

the

importalt

issue

of

exactly

how

much

bigger

it

should

be.

To

resolve

this,

he made

three large

drawings

of

dre

Tvoman

l n

profile,

each

slight\

different

in height

'fhese

were

then

atuched

to

a wooden

scaffold

arrd

taken

ty thc

atist

into

the

room

in the

Narional

Gallery

where

the

sculpture

woulil

be

shown,

so

that

he

could

see

i'hern

in relation

to

the

s.,.r_oorrdit

g,pa""

and

choose

the size

ol

his

Pregnant

Woman

accordingly'

Although

X'lueck

wanted

to

make

alarge

scrrlpture'

he

was

anxious

that

the

finished

piece

should

not

impress

by

magnirude

alone

To

this

end

he

needed

to

keep

her

size

human

enough

that

viewers

could

still

relate

to

her

as

a

lellow

creature

not rnerely perceive her

as

an outsize

freak'

Comparisons

rvith

Mo ther

and

Child

are

worth

making

What

would

rhe

effect

have

becn

if Mueck

hail

made

lhe earlier

piece

on

a

larger

than

life

scale


18/39

and

llaade Pregnant Woma.n

srnaller?

Mother

arul

Child

shows

a woman

with

her baby at a

rroment of

absolute

cxtremity

and urter

vulnerability-

The

diminished scale

poignant\

intensifies

these ideas.

A grearer

size

would

therefore

mean sacrilicing

thosc aspects

of

the work

that rrrake

it

so

convincing.

Conversely, altlrough Pregnant

Woman's

maquette

(rvhich

is

low destroyed)

srill

worked beautifulll.,

it did rrot

havc

the samc

degree

of

emotive

suggesLiol

as Mothzr antl Child. The

exaggerated

siz

e

of

Pregnant

WomLzz

forcefully

communicates

the

weight

borrre

in the woman's

wolnb.' ve

are forced

to

wonder

at the physicality

and burden

of

chikl

bearing,

and

the sculpture

becomes a

tribute

to motherhood.

Iinlarging

the

ligure

adds another

porverful

aspect.

As

she loonN above

us

she

gains a

totemic quality,

and

beco

res

a great

Earrh

Mother

at

whose feet

we

stand.

IICI

enlarged scale psychologically

diminishcs

specrarors,

giving

us

the relative

scale

of

a

child. We are

made

to

feel

subordinate

beforc the

povrerful

form before

us:

motheihoiid

persc,nified,

the

origil

oi

iiie.

iriueck has

made

an Eartlr

Goddess for

the twenty-Iirst

century

who

takes her

place

rv:ith

representations

of

allcient fertility

godesses,

or the

prehistoric

female stones

of

Avebury

or the Boyne Valley.

And

yer shc is

still profoundly

hurrran.

Her bodv

has

the imperfections

of

reality.

The

closed

eyes allow

us to

fecl

urrobsen.ed as

we

look

at

her

They also encouragc

us to

imagine

trer thoughts

and her


19/39

'\/

feelings. She looks exhausted, careworn

and

individual,

weighed

down

both

literally and

metaphorically.

There is no specific National Gallery

source- As with

MotDer and

Child,

she

stands

in relation to

a

tradition rather than to

a particular

painting. She

oiginates from

Mueck's

desire to

carry

on

his investigations into

the

mother

and-child

theme.

Historically, there

are

representations

of

the

obviously

pregrart Virgin Mary

tut these are rare and the National

Gallery owns

none.

However,

Mueck's sculpture does act as a

reminder of

how often in litanies

to

thc

Virgin

Mary, she is referred to

as a

holy vessel

or container. Spectators

would

surely be

iustified

in

seeing X{ueck's sculpture as a modern Mary pondering

deepiy the

im pl icat rons

oI

rT

hat she

carries w

ith in hcr.

56


20/39

'lhe

Swaddted Babv

A tiny baby, wrapped

in

swaddling clothes and

placed on

a white pillow,

completes the

t'ork

made

in

the National Gallery, This new piece is

a further

exploration o{ a subject Mueck has addressed

before,

with

his big Babies

of

rgg8,

aod his

time

at the

National

Gallery has encouraged

him

to

focus

even

furrher

on Ihe rheme

YYlrile

still

N.orking o\the Pregnant Woman, Mueck

saw

images

of

swaddled

babies

from the Far East

that triggered his inrerest and helped

hirn

decrde to make a sculpture

of

rhe subiect.

Swaddling a newborn

child

is now

unusual

in the

lYest

but remains cornr:con

Fra.ti.a

rn

Ce

tr.r

and Eastern

Europe,

and even more so

in

the Far East. A

child

is swaddlcd for

the

first

few

weehs

of

its

life

ro

constrict

its limbs

while it

becornes used to its new

environment

outside the

conlainmcnt

of

the rvomb-

The swaddling clothes are

intended

to replicate the sense

of

restriction suddenly and

violently

lost

at birth,

A chance

sighting

in London's

Charing Cross Road

of

a Romanian

beggar


21/39

sitting

with

a

swaddled

baby was

important

ro

the rnaking

of

Mueck,s

piece.

At first

he did

not realise

that the

tiny

package

the wornan

held

was a

child. H

watched

her

as

she moved it

from

hand

to hand;

in

the artist,s

own

words

,like

a

loaf

of

bread'.

The

infant

could

not have

been

more

thal three

weeks

old.

Tightly

w'rapped, with

only its

face

showing,

it

looked

impossibly

miniature,

a

if

it was

altering

irs

own scale

in

a

parody

of

Mueck,s

characteristic

shrinkages

Mueck

was

accordingly inspired

to make

his Sua&tted

Babylife

size,

rhe

firsr

piece he

has made

without

altering

the scale.

paradoxicalll4

however,

the baby,

tiny

size

mahes it look

as

if it has

indeed

been

miniaturised.

14tren

considering

M leck's

Stoa.tltlled.

BaDn

it is inevitable

that

the infant

Christ,

the most

famous

swaddled

baby

in

histol6

will

come

to

mind,

in

much

the same

way as

Mu eck's

Mother

and ChrTd

draws inescapable

comparison

with

traditional

images

of

the Virgin

and

Child.

In

the

National

Gallery,s

collection

rhere is

a

painting

of the,4doration

of the

Shepluerds

by

an anonl.rnous

Neapolitan

arrist

in which

the

Christ

Child

is tightly

swaddled.'l-his

picture

reinforces

Mueck's

apt,

but

unconscions,

brearl

simile,

since the

basketof

loqves

on rhe

righr. of

the picture

is

a symbol

to

remind

the

faithfu]

thar at

the Eucha

srthe

communion

bread

becomes

the body

of

Christ.

Mueck

began

making

thc

&oaddled

Batryr immediately

afrcr

completing

the Pregz

ant Woman.

Hc

originally

planned

to

male

four

babies

which

were

to

be

displayed

together

hanging

in

a

row

on rhe wall.

Afrer

completing

all four,

this

idea was

N€t{liian

atisq

prcha61y

r6Jos

The.r

dDruh@

of .ne Shzphzrdt

Tl,c Narional

6all..:

Lndon

1a


22/39

dropped.

The decision

to show

iust

one carrre after Mueck had also considered

and

rejected

showing two

or three together.

If

he showetl

more lhal one, he

felt,

rhe

piece

would

simply become an exercise

irr

compadson

for viewers,

who

would surely

be ternpted

to

merely

try

and spot slight differences between

each

lace

certainly

not what the

arrist intcnded. The others have

not

been

abandoned,

but put aside

for later consideration

as works in

their

own right.

As there was

rro reason to produce

realistic bodies for these babies,

only

the

heads were

moulded

in

clay

and cast oui

in

silicone.

The

body

that Mueck

rnakcs us imagine,

snug inside the swaddling,

is simply polyurethane

foam

lilling that

has been

wrapped and bound. However, the

little wisp of

hair

that

shows

from nnderneath

the cotton headpie


23/39

around

the head

of

tlte Su.'ad.dled

Baby,

combined

with

the

dull

brown

of

t-he

body wrapping,

gives

the sculpture

a

monk

lilie

appearance

which

iS

reinforced

by

the string

that ties

up the whole

package.

This hint

of

a monk,s

solitar

y,

conrcurplative

life,

shut away

in the

confinement

of

a

rnonastery,

adds

alother

aspect

to this

little figure,

It is possible

ro

return

to the

element

of

self

portraiture

in

Mueck,s work

in

the contexr

of

this piece.

Mueck's

sudden

high profile

in

tJre

art world

was

unlooked

for,

and has taken

hirn

by surprise.

He was

unprepared

for the amount

of

inedia

coverage,

parttcularly

the

myriad

requests

for

inierviews

following

his

inclusion

in

the Sezsarzoz

exhibition.

He worrld

much

prefer

ro

be

left

alone

to

work

in privacy

without

having

rc make

himself

and his

private

rhoughts

ptfi\ic.

The

Sua&lkd. Bablr

is fast

asleep

arrd inhabits

a world

that

exists

only in

its

own head.

It seems

as

safe

and as

cosy

as

it

did

in

the

womb,

althougtr

in

reality

its bith

has given

ir

a fragility

arrd

a

r.,ulnerability

of which

it

is,

as

yer,

blissfuiiy

unaware.

It was,

perhaps,

predictable

that

Mueck

should

decide

finally

upon one solitary

baby,

given

the

dominance

of

single

figures

in his

career

so far,

and r.he solitary

way

in

which

he works.

If

the

Man

in a

Boat can

be

understood

as

a

metaphorical

self-portrait,

so,

too, can

the

Su.,at)t

etl

Baby.

It is

tempting

to think

of

the four

National

Gallery

pieces

as

having

some

kind

of

narrative

logic

that

unites them

and

enables

us to see

them as

a


24/39

r

whole. Starting

with

Pregnant

lTomdn,

we

inevitably

move

to Mother

arul

Cilld,

then on

to th

e

Suadiled.

Baby

and

hnally

r.o

the

Maz in

a Boat,

ever

though

the

four

pieces

were

not made in

thai

order-

The

sculptures

function

both as

individual

works,

and

in

relation

to one

another.

They can

also be

seen

in

the context

of

tbe other

work

made

in

llueck,s

l\ational

Gallery

studio,

before he

embarked

deliberately

on the

pieces

for this

exhibition.

Inirially,

he worked

as if

he was

not

in

the

Gallery

realising

only

latcr

Lhat the wall

mourrr-ed

Ba6yowed

rLs

origin

ro

r-he fa.r

rhat

he \4as

surrounded

by

Old Nlasrer

paintings,

working

amorrg

so maoy

odd lookilg

babies.

Mueck's

conscious

involvemenr

with

the

Gallery,s

collection

after his

invitation

began

wi th Mother

and

Chikl,

made

over

a

year

after he

moved

in.

The

pieces produced

during

the

first

year in

the National

Gallery

however,

hint

at

those

same themes

that

was

to explore

specifically

for

this

exhibition.

The

()ld

Wornan

in Bed.,

contained

within

her

bedclothes,

is

arriving

at

the end

of

the

jorrrney

srarred

by the newborn

infant

of

Mother

and.

Child.,and

is

wrapped

rrp

in

a rvay

that pre

sages rhe

&Laddle(t

Baby.-Ihe

Big Ma4

gruffly

enclosed

within

himself,

and tbe

Man

in lllanhets,

curled

up in

his foetal

posture,

all

happily

fit

wir.hin

the theme

of

containr[enr

rhat

so interests

N{ueck_

Colin

Y\tggins


25/39

Ron

Mueck:

A Redefinition

of Realism

Visitors

to the

Hayward Gallery's

Spellbozrl exhibition

in 1996 were

surpised

to

lind

the

small

figwe of

a

young

boy, naked but

for a pair

of

white

Y-fronts

and

a

mischievous

expression, stalding

in

a room full of Paula

Rego's

giant

canvases.

Notling in the

gallery

explained his presence, but the

curious could

find

the

story among the

press

clippings pinned up outside.

Rego had asked

her

son

in law, model

rnaher Ron Mueck,

to

sit for her

painting

o{ Gepetto as

he

made

his

own

Pinocchio. Mueck created not

a

puppet but a

very real

boy,

who

slipped

unannounced

into

the art world under

Rego's

skirts.

'fhe

fairytale

parallel

is

beguiling

Gepetto,

the master-c.raftsmar, put aside his everyday

work

to

pour all

his

skill into

a

ligure

rnade to fill a gap in his

life.

Mueck

had

'enjoyed'a

successful

career making

models for

film,

television and advenisi ng

but,

feeling

increasingly unfulfilled

and frustrated by

working

to order,

he had

begun

making

work for his own private satisfaction.

Mueck's

Pirurchio

was also

to change

its

maker's life after a

{ashion,

turning

hirn

into a creator

of

'living'

sculpture.

Enter the farniliar

character

of

Charles Saatchi,

fairy

godfather to

the

YBAs:

intrigued by Pinocchio,he

sought Mueck out, eventually

acqniring

his

giant Babies,,4zge

I and Dead

Datl-'fhis

last became

lVlueck's firsr officially

exhibited

rl.ork,

in

Sezsaaioz at the

Royal Academy

(rg97),

where

it

stole

the

shorv and

catapulted Mueck

into

the first rank

of

the contemporary

art world.

Now this

exhibition

is a chance to

look

back

at the

artisls

work to date,

anil

an opportunity

to consider

it albeit glancingly

-

in the light

of

orher

eflorts

through history to render

the lifelike human figure.

Mueck has created

the most

flawlessly hyper real figures

in

art

history

so

effectively

imitating

nature that

the

categories

of

art, image and

reality

seem

to

be

suspended.

In

the prese-nce

of

a Mueck sculpture

we

are

astonished by the

perfection

of

rhe

illusion,

leaning in, it is impossible to

fault, however close

your

range.

Hairs sprout

from

pores, eyes

glisten with

moisture, flesh appears

flushed

ormottled.

New developments

in

the

history

of alt

are often represented

as


26/39

technological advances driven by rhe

pursuit

of

increasetl naturalism.

Yet

this impulse has beer constantly checked by

a deeply ingrainerl aversion

to

the

too-lifelike,

an

uneasiness

still present

in our respouse

io Mueck's work

todav

Historically, sculpture has been prized and

denigrated for

the same qualities

its

directness,

its power

to

rnove

and

to

inspire

empathy.

The history

of

sculptuxe

in

Western

civilisation,

then, is also the

history

of

a debate o.re:

the

very definitions and parameters

of

the

terms

'naturalism'

and

'realism'.

The

pursuit

of

these

qualities has

produced the idealised

bodies

of

the

high

Classic

period, when physical beauty was

invested

with

moral

or divine qualitjes,

as

well as ihe

agonised,

suffering

body

that

Medieval

sculpture made an

arena

fo

Christian

doctrine.

'Realism'can

be a

truth to essential,

un:iversal nature

or

to

a

detailed

observation

of particular reality;

an encapsulation

of

beauty or a

repudiation

of it,

Mueck's hyper-realism

is

not'simply'

the flawless technicel

imitation

of

reality,

but requires another

definition,

Verisirnilitude: technique

and taboo

Confronting

a work by Ron Mueck

is an uncanny

experience

(and

locking

up

a dark gallery full

of

them, alone,

a

dorvnright eerie one). It is

not that u.e

actually think rhat they are alive,

however, aJrd

there is not Lhe mornentary

jol

of

confusion that a sidervays glimpse

of

a

life

size

dumrny can deliver.

Our

experience

of

Mueck's

illusion

of life

is more rewarding

and prolorrged

becaus

we are willing participants in

the deception, In fact,

our arnazement is

predicated

on our

awareuess

of

deceit,

arrd ourpleasure lies

in finding it

out.

We relish the contradictory rnessages

oI

eyes

arrd

brain,

the questionirlg

of aur

senses. The oyenvhelming

desire to touch that all

viewers scem to feel is an

urge to corroborate their eyes' impressiou

of

living

warmth

and softness.

We indulge

the

fancy

that

as

we

turn

away

a feathered

wing rnight

stir, a

hekl

breath be

released or arr eyelid

flicker, and we feel

a

genuine

shiver of the

uncanny. Despite our inteller:tual

understanding

of their

rnan-made sLatus,


27/39

tension arises from

the conflict betrveen

the matcrial,s

ineftia

and its

impression

of

liveliness;

the fear

of

the lifelike

which

haunts

the waring

perceptions

of

the

image

as reflection,

and the image

as

reality.

What lies

behind

the lifelike humar

figure,s

power

ro fascinate

and ro

unsettle us?Another

fairyale in

which

a man

combines

hands,skill

and heart,s

longingto

infuse a work

of

art with

life,

the story

of

Pygmalion

and

Galatea, is

the founding

mtth

of

Western sculpture

ald

paradigmatic

act

of

creation.

When

the legendary

King of

Clprus fell

in

love

wittr

rhe

statue

of

a

beauriful

woman

he had

made, Vcnus

brought her

to

life.

The

story

dcscribes the magical

process

through

which

a three-dirnensional

sculpted

form

can

.become,

a

living,

breathing

entity.

Similar

tales are found

in

other mythologies,

and stories

of

men's

desire to create

a

living

creaturc

appear

in

manv

grises;

among

thern

the

Jewish

rradition

of

the golem,

Descarles'

automatorr

Francine

and

Frankenstein's

monster

Each is

an allegory

of

the rewards

and risks

inherent

in

the

creative

act

-

and

more

particularly

an expression

of

our

awarcness

that

by

creating

a

human figure

we parody

the

act

of

divine

creation.

The taboo rhar

prohibits

representation

frorn

approaching

life

too closely

is deeply ingrainetl_

Tie

Sa{clri

C-lt* io,.

t,oDJo.


28/39

Western

traditions

of

aestherics

and

philosophy

are

founded

on

platonic

theory

which

deems

exact representation

both impossible

and

undesirable,

and we

arr: corrditioned

by

centuies

of

polemic

and

prohibitions

surrounding

images

The Pygmalion

myth

acknowledges

the

power

of

human

responses

to

art,

specilically

to

the

three

dimensional hurnan form.

We

well

krrow

that

people

are

aroused

by

sculptures,

pray

and

make pilgrimages

to them,

smash

anrl

topple

them,

are

calrned

or incited

to revolt

by them.

The

democracy

and

directness

of

sculptrrre's

appeal,

the

strange

seduciive

magnetism

of itj

'rhingness',

has

been the

cause

of intellectual

suspicion

and

distaste,

and

has

resulted

in

the negative

value

sometimes

placed

on

verisimilitude.

Baudelaire

iderrrified

a popular

preference

for

sculpture,s

,unrefined

imrrrediacy,

in

an

essay rvith

rhe

uncompromising

title

,Why

Sculpture

is Tiresome,,

and

his is

only

one

attack

in

a

long

hislorical

debare

thai

has

largely

favoured

painting

ovcr

sculpture.l

A relared

prejudice,

agairr

strctching

back to

anriquity,

is rhe

belief

in

sight,s

supremacy

over

the other

senses.

Touch,

the

sense

which

Mueck,s

rendering

of lvarm,

heavy

flesh

or fine

dowrry

hair

most arouses,

has

been

deemed

urrreliable,

dalgerous,

even

morally

questionable.

At

the

sarne

time,

the

oldest,

clich6d

compliment

that can

be paid

to

a

sculptor

is to

say

tbar he

can rnake

marble

seem

flesh

and blood,

or

make

sculptures

breathe

or move-

Daedalus,

rnl,lhic

progenitor

of

Greek art, was

said

to have

made

sculptures

that rvalked

off

their

bases

hlperbole

talen

so literally

thar

statues

have

been

excavated

charned

to

their

plinths

at the

ankle.

Classical

ter-ts

are full

of

admiring

anecdotes

of

artists'

ability

ro

deceive

Zeuris'painted

grapes

that

were

pecked

by Lhe

birds,

the

calf which

pined

and

stan,ed

beside

llyron

s

sculpted

corv

_

as

rvell

as

statues'

porver

to provoke

emotion,

aad

even

violence

and

lust

(the

Knidian

Aphrodire,

the most

irrrpossibly

beauriful

representation

of

woman,

was

said to

haa-e

a stain

on her

flank

left

bv

one particulaJlji

ot-ern-helmed

art

lor.er),

Similar

formulae

resurface

in

accounts

of

the

master

sculptors

of the

Renaissance,

and

seern not

much

more

lhan

maanered

cliche

when

they

appear


29/39

in

epigrams

saluting

Antonio

Canova's

'blushing

marble'.'

It

is sculpture

in

particular,

of

course, occupying our

three

dimensional space,

which

can fool us

into

responding

as

if to the real,

Mueck's

works rentler flesh, blood, hair, substance and terture with

breath

taking

accuracy.

What

else do

we look for to test for signs

of

life?

Movement

is

perhaps

the

first signifier. Mueck's sculptures are

still,

bDt not frozen

mid

gesture:

in

attitudes

of

rest, the_t retain the possibility

of

motion. We also ]ook

rc

the

eyes which is

why

it

is

so disturbing to see

an image,

or

indeed

a person,

without

them-

There is a Chinese tradition that the

paintcr

does not

complete

the

eyes

of

his subjects,

in

order to prevent thern escaping his control.r

Mueck

lavishes

extraordinalr

care on hand-making his rnodels' eyes

in

many stages,

building

up atransparent

lens

over a coloured

iris

and

deep, black pupil.'l44ren

he linally

inserts

them

the effect is startling, as the figure appears to

corne

to

life-

A waxwork's vacant, glassy star:e

quickly

betrays lifelessness. Not only are

Mueck's

eyes astonishingly

rcal, but they may glint

from

half-closed

lids, be

partly

aoncealed,

or cast

reflectively

downwards: our sense o{

a ]ife

behind the

eyes

persists.

Dead

Dad's ayes are closed. His

thick

grey

hair

has been brushed back

from

the lined face, now slackened

into melincholy repose.

'l'his

is

the one sculpture

in

which

l\'lueck convinces us not

of

the presence, but

of

the absence

of life.

Although

we know better, we

expeience

the chilling sensation that we are

looking not

at a

representation but at the

thing

itsell a corpse. The body is real

to us

in

cvery fleshy detail, but somehow we know

tltat

life once present

-

has

now departed. Dead

Dad

encapsulates one

of

the

crudal

questions at the

heart

of

Mueck's work:

what

distinguishes

animate and inanimate matter;

rvhat

is

the essence

that animates, the spark rh al consiti tu tes

life?As

Craig

Raine

has

written

'Ron

Mueck's sculpture explains why man has

felt

the

need

ro

inrenr

the idea

of

the soul'-'


30/39

The Kritian

Boy to

Mueck's Boy

One

ligure *ands

at

t-he

origin of

the history

of

naturalisnn in sculpture,

a

distalt

alcestor

in whatever erratic

lineage we mighl trace to Mueck. Dubbed

'cover

boy

of

the Greek

revolution',

the

Kritian

Boy

represents

the

end

of

a

stiff

and stylised

sculptural

tradition and signals the

movement towards an accurate

imitation

of

nature, one of

Western art's most profound developments.'Two

key factors

in

this

revolution

were technological innovation

-

the

invention of

techniques

that

u.ould allow greater detail

-

and the drive

of

narrative,

the

desire

to involve

viewers

through

convincing emotion

and drama

in

orderto

better

tell

a story,

Here are

the

basic

impulses

which

have held trre down

to

Mueck:

refining

techniques

to create a closer

imitation

of

reality,

ald

so convey

"a

convincing

psychological

presence. Hoyrever, the newly

naturalistic

figures

of

the Classical

period

were athletes, heroes, gods. They represented an

ideal,

achieved

by blendirlg the

human

and divine, the universal and the spccific.

These Classical

principles were later codified by the

Renaissance

inro

Kntur" 6r

Kiio,

Bo ,

AlIpoljs lrus.un.

Ath.ns

tvlan unh

shatd ILa,t.

toga


31/39

,::]

mathematical rules governing proportion and anatomy, perspective

and

foreshortening

composition

and symmetry.

f)ne

of

the most familiar images

of

the Renaissance, konardo da

Vinci's

(r

452

t5rg)

Vitnoian Ma4

perfectly

demonstrates

their

lasting

influence on Western

aesihetics.

Mueck's work seems so scrupulously faithful to

reality

in

the detail

rhat

one does not immediately

notice

the

Iarger

libeties he takes with precisely

these principles

of

proportion and anatomy-

Although

he uses

life

models,

Boy, Big Man

arr.d Man

u.ttth Sha.ted Eead are ali rn poses

Mueck's sitters found

impossible.

Their

bodies are

folded

into

more cornpact forms

than

rve

can

easily

achieve, yet each one

seenN relaxed,

absolutely balanced and stable,

solidly rooted

to thc

ground.

Out

of thc

knot

of

his

body the

Man

uith Shtued

Head

drapes long arms and huge. heavv hands. Lnur-kles u eigh

rpd

ro Ihe

ground

in front of him.

Nlentally

unfolding him

to

starding

height, t'e carr

Aarhu

Klnsii,

u5eurJ. Denma.k


32/39

imagine

how disproportionate they

would

seem

to

his

frame

(here

is

an

echo

of

Michelangelo's

David,

enormous

hand resting gracefuIly against

his

rttigh)- He has the

latent

energy and

grace

of

an

athlete, seeming

simultaneously

coiled and at

rest,

his

furled

boily balanced against the droop

of

l'is arrns- Big Man

's

dense, solid

bulk

is packed

into

a corner, a

fleshy rnanifestation

of

brooding

m is.ry.

Perversely. t-hes"

expressrve

distortions

invest

Mueck's figures with the living charge that

an

actual life cast lacks:

though it

may be a

perfect

anal

exact

reproduction

of

a

]iving

body,

a

cast

will

always

seem

a

stiff,

dead

shell.

Mueck

works

from

life,

from found images and

analomical

soruce books, but he does not apply

any methods

of

calculation-

Ilis sculptures

can

spend

weeks and months as clay

while

he grops towards

a

sense

of proportional

'rightness'

for the

figure that is not based

on

lidelity

to a living model, but is

particular

to the figure he is creating.

Nllueck's ligures are

also

lar from

perfect

or

ideal:

they ale awkward,

flawed,

mortal

flesh, His

reality

has

the shocking honesty

of

the Gothic,

an

unflinching

observation of the body naked, rather than nude. Certainly Jan

YanEyck's.4dam and Zze appear stark naked. These are real

people, minutely

observed and reproduced

uvith

dispassionate accuracy- There is none

of

the

idealising

influence

of

classical Greece

which

Van

E1.ck's Italian contempo

raries

never quite

lost. Van Eyck was

a

technical

innovator,

developing the

new

medium

of

oil

glaze

to

reproduce

reality in

finer, rnore glowing

detail.

His array

of

visual

effects

of

texture and surface is dazzling: wisps

of

hair, stiff brocade,

hand

blown glass arrd polished

pewter

are

rendered

with

an almost

unnairrral

clarity.

This is a

reality

constructed through

the

build-up

of crystalline

]lltirpieeSioxz2a.m

Sr Baafskath.iraal.

Gtent


33/39

observed

detail

rather

than

a

maste+

adherence

to rhe

maley

scientific

laws

of

the

Renaissance.

In

the

sarne

mauner

Mueck assembles

al

exhaustive

itemisation

of

the

body,

from

a

calloused

heel to

a

ridged

fingernail

or rhe

shadowed

hollow

of

a

rhroat.

Thpre

is

a

shared

sensibility

in Mueck's

ligures

arrd

i

n

the hard,

brilliant

clarity

of

the

Northern

revolution

in rcalism.

Compare

his

Seated

Woman

with

Albrecht

Diirert

portrait

of

his father

at

seventy

(in

the

National Gallery) or Dead

Datl

with

ITans

Holbein's

devastating

imagc

oI

The ltody

of

the

Dead

Christ

in tle

'lomb,

glassy

eyed,

his hand

a

stiff

claw.

A neat

binary

sysrem

was

established

during

the

Renaissance,

Gothic

North

on

the

one hand

and

Graeco

Rornal

South

on

the other,

excluding

the

Iberian

Peninsula

altogether.

But

rhe

art

which

flourished

rhere

from

the

lifteenrh

cenrury

onrvards,

ignored

or tlismissed

by the

rest

of

Europe,

positively

embraced

rhe

unsettling

power

of

the

hyper

real.

The

Spanish

polychrome

traditiorr

saw painters

and sculptors

collaborating

to produce

figures

of

extreme

naturalism,

carved

in

wood

before

being

coated

in

gesso,

smoothed

an


34/39

works

as any

informed

perception

of

art

hislorical

rcsonances. Sculpture lhat

imitates

reality

has

historically

been suspect on

the

grounds

that

it

is

likely

to provoke a baser

response,

working

on

an

emotional

or physical

level

rathert}an a

refined

intellecrual

one.

Ir. is a distinction

that sometimes still seems

to

be

operating,

as

betrayed by

a

critical

suspicion

of

work with popular,

accessible appeal.

The perceived distinction

between

'high'

and

'low'

became

increasingly exaggerateil

in

the

eighteenth

cenLury

The craze for ercavating.

studying

and eollecting

Classical sculpture

grew,lhe

dazzling

whiteness

of

its

unearthed

state enlbrcing

its status

as

the

sublime,

philosophi"ally

pure

ideal.

At

the sarne trme,

dolls, dummies,

automata and

rvax works were increasingly

popular

entertainments,

so

that all lifelike treatments

of

the body became associateal

with these

'low'

or

'debaserl'

forms.

However, by

the end

of

the

century the

incrcasing weight

of

evidence finally forced

a

major reassessment of

the

antique.u Rather

than being the

model

and embodiment

of

eighreenth

century

moralised aesthedcs,

it

was discovered that Greek sculpture had been brighlly

painted and ornamented,

with

wire

eyelashes and

tinted

lips arrd

nipplcs.

Now we know that even the Kritian

Boy had

once

had

inlaid

cyes, and probably

like

the Parthenon

-

an orgamc wash tomng riown the

_bare

marble.

Ironically,

having

provided

the

inspiration

for the pure marble body

of

Neoclassicism,

the ancient

world was to provoke the

nineteenth

century

into a

range

of

exPeri

ments in painted,

tinted

and

mixed-media

sculpture.

Nevertheless,

when Edgar

Degas

first

exhibited.his Little

Dancer

of

Fourtezn

Years

in t88r, his contemporarv audience found the

r*ork deeply

Crecorio

Fe..inde

t

5:t

_

1516)

l\,l,po

DioEs.o Caredralico.

-alladol;d


35/39

shocking.

Nlodelled

in

wax and

tinted

rosily,

she was dressed

in

a fabric

tutu

and bodice,

stockings

and

slippers,

with a wig

of

real

hair

ticd

back in a green

ribbon

(the

bronze

casts

we are

now

familiar

with

were

not

made

until

rqer).'fhese

materials associated her

with

carnival

and the grotesque, with

scientilic

study, and

with

the newly

rediscovered Spanish

Catholic

tradition, while

her brutish features

and

assumed immorality horrified

contemporary

viewers. One observed

that

she

'belonged

in

a

zoological, an rropological or

nredical

muscum. The

crrLrcJ.K.

Huy.mans

diagnosed his own sense

of

revulsion:

'the

terrible

reality

of

this statuette mahes one

rlistinctly

uneasy; all one's ideas about

sculpture, about

these

inanirnate whitenesses, about these

memorable clich6s

copied down

the centuries,

all

are overtrrrned.'

llis

final

verdict was

that

this

rvas

'the

first

truly modern

sculpture'-t Rather than an

attempt to

Portray

an

itleal or generalised

humanity, she

is,

like

NIueck's figures,

a

very

particular,

individual

and

unromanticised

t)'pe,

her

personality proclaimed

by

the

pert

iut

of

her chin.

In

common

wiih

the

[,ittle

Dancerardthe

Spanish saints,

Mueck's figures

have real clothes

an

d

lnarr.In

faa, Deai Dals

legs

are

prickled with the artist's

orvn

hair

(a

practice

which

he

has rrot been able to sustain for obvious

rcasons).

Though

entirely

practical,

this dctail

lends the

work

a

powerlul

arua of

reliquary

or votive

representations

of

the dead. Since

NIueck is extrerrtely

sparing

in his choice

of

garrnetrts or props,

each seems

rich

rvith

significalce.

Some

are invented

and made

to

scale,

but

often

they

are

found

and bear signs

of

rr-ear and usc.

The cocoon

su[ounding,tlan in Blanhets

is

ol clean

but

worn

aldgar

Dees{,354 r9,?)

t.nttcD eet af |7ou.e.a

Y?ors

(,88o,..astabout,9 2)

P.lnrpd

bronz.

witn,.usltn

aDd sil)'

9a.4

x

4,9

t

a5

5

cm

56

Tar.,Lonnon

(inr

xr;6016)


36/39

insritutiooal

woollen

blarkets,

their

charcoal grey

shadowing

the depths

of

his

nest, the blue and

pink

of

the outer layers

picking

out his faint flush

and

blueish veins.

Some props are mysterious

details, potential

clues to

a

narratir-e

not

spelled out to

us

but others

have immediate

clear resonan

ces-

()ld

Wr;ma.n

m Bed is folded

between crisp sheets

that

clearly

signify

a hosp:ital

or nursirrg

}l,orne-

Seated Woman has a new

woollen

twinset and pearls,

but the gold

buckled, crocodile

shoes

bulging

over

painful

corrrs and her

neat gold

earriugs,

Mueck

made for her,

She

sits on

a

worn

and faded piece

of

brocade

which

manages

to conjure an environment

of

overstuffed

sofas and tables

crowded

rvith

knick

knacks,

and perhaps

future

generations

who rvill

be reminded

of

her

by tltis piece

of

cloth.

OaWon,aB€d,.ooo

Anrhon,r,

d OILr, l,nd..


37/39

A

new

kind

of Realism

Realism

today

often

means

real

objects,

or a concentration

on

real

and

ver

iabre

concrete qualities,

as in

minimalism:

that

is,

an

existentialist

realism

rather

thal

an

illusionist, counterfeit realism,

Even

the hyper-real

descriptive

art

of

the last

few

deeades is

driven

by impersonal

observation

anrl

an

unsparing

factualiry-

Ilut

Mueck

does not

merely

create

the

most

flawless

illusion

of

realityyet

achieved:

he resrores

subiectivity

and

humanism

to

the hyper

real-

In

his

minute,

unflinching

itemisation

of

real,

imperfect

human

bodies

Mueck

also

manages

to convey

an

internal

narrative,

in

a powerful

evocation

of

what

we

might

term psychological

realisrn.

psychology

is,

after

all,

the

essenrial

new

informant

of

our

contemporary

readings,

replacing

political,

mythical

or

religious

consftucts.

These

sculptures

are

portxaits

of

emotional

states,

and

aftel

our

initial

astonishment

ar

their

verisimilitude

it

is rheir

impression

of

an

inner

lile

that holds

our

contiuued

attention.

Glzost

is the

embodiment

of

teenage

selfconsciousness,

tlte

projection

of

a

stage

at

which

our

bodies

become

suddenly

large

and

stxange

and

acutely

ernbarrassing

to

us.

Two

metres

tall,

rawboned,

slightly

pimply,

she

hurrches

against

the

wall

as

if

wishing

her

regularion

swim

suit

could

conceal

het

Seated

Wornan

is

a

portrait

RP5 Ron Mueck 05s

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Transcript of RP5 Ron Mueck 05s