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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
,
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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
8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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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,
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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
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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
8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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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
8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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'\/
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
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'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
8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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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
8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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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
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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
8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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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
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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
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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,
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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.
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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
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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'-'
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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
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,::]
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
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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
8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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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
8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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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
8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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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
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56
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8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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.
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8/16/2019 RP5 Ron Mueck 05s
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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
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