Ron Mueck’s Giant Sculptures of People Are Mesmerizing, Very Unsettling
Between refusing interviews and keeping his artistic output to a minimum—just a few dozen sculptures in the last 20 years—the Australian sculptor Ron Mueck tends to play by his own rules. That’s especially true when it comes to the artist’s proportions: though hair-raisingly realistic, his reproductions of humans ranging from newborns to octogenarians are often either shrunken or super-sized, like 16-foot figures fashioned from clay, resin, and even Mueck’s own hair. Fresh from a world tour stretching from Paris to Sao Paulo, 13 of those works—a third of Mueck’s oeuvre to date—will be on view from this Sunday until May in a new survey exhibition at Houston‘s Museum of Fine Arts. Get to know Mueck’s motley family with a preview of the show, here.
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Ron Mueck, “Mask II,” 2001–02.
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Ron Mueck, “Couple under an Umbrella,” 2013.
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Ron Mueck, “Youth,” 2009.
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Ron Mueck, “Man in a Boat,” 2002.
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Ron Mueck, “Crouching Boy in Mirror,” 1999–2002.
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Ron Mueck, “A Girl,” 2006.
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Ron Mueck, “Man in Blankets,” 2000.
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Ron Mueck, “Mother and Child,” 2001–03.
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Ron Mueck, “Two Women,” 2005.
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Ron Mueck, “Still Life,” 2009.
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Ron Mueck, “Untitled (Seated Woman),” 1999.
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Ron Mueck, “Woman with Shopping,” 2013.
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Ron Mueck, “Young Couple,” 2013.