Week 4 - Humanism and
contemporary sculpture.
Ron Mueck's sculpture and Humanism
Mask II (2002)
Ron Mueck
A girl (2006) Ron
Mueck
Ron Mueck has become internationally recognised for his unique
sculptures, which replicate the human figure with unrivalled technical
skill. His work has a powerful psychological range, focusing not only on
universal experiences like birth, life and death but on emotional states such
as isolation, fear and tenderness. His startling manipulations of scale are key
to our experience of each work.
Mueck's work showed at the Christchurch Art Gallery from the end of 2010
through to January 2011. Research Mueck's sculpture in order to answer
the following questions;
1. Mueck's sculpture is described as 'hyper-real'. Define the meaning of
this term and explain how it is evident in his work. The term hyper real
simply defined is when something is
exaggerated in comparison to reality. This is evident in Muecks work as the
sculptures are extremely realistic, with the textures and accurate shaping of
the human body but when people view the sculptures it is visable that some
aspects have been exaggerated to make it become hyper-real.
2. Mueck says he is not interested in making life size sculpture. Find
out why he is more interested in working with the scale of the figure which is
not life size, and mention 2 works which use scale that is either larger or
smaller than life.
Mueck is well known for is larger than life sculptures, in an
interview he stated, ‘I never made
life-size figures because it never seemed to be interesting. We meet life-size
people every day.’ Mueck enjoys the journey the viewer takes when experiencing
one of this works, the scale adds to this journey. ‘The pregnant Woman, 2002’
stands at 252cm high, the ‘spooning couple’ plinth:
690 x 827 x 624 mm, 20 kg displayed: 1165 x 1040 x 790 mm, as shown in comparison
to human hands.
3. Define Renaissance Humanism , and identify which
aspects of Humanism can be seen in Mueck's work. Note that the contemporary
definition of Humanism is much broader than the Renaissance definition.
During
the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century, Scholasticism had evolved, preparing men to become those in what is classed as
‘professional’ jobs for example doctors and lawyers. Renaissance Humanism, was
a response to this, and doing so prepared woman and the lower class for work.
Renaissance Humanism is shown through Mueck’s work, for example the giant head
‘ Mask II’ is of male gender, symbolising that men were big headed, through ‘
The pregnant woman’
4. Research and discuss one of Mueck's sculptures that you might find
challenging or exciting to experience in an art gallery. Describe the work,
upload an image of the work, and explain your personal response to the
work. A Girl, is made of silicone, polyurethane, wood with synthetic hair. It is
85-cm-high with oversize eyes and is part of a private collection. I think I
would be drawn to this sculpture as it has most defiantly caught my eye out of
this collection. I enjoy the ‘realness’ of sculpture, Mueck hasn’t made birth
of a baby pleasant, he has made it so realistic with the umbilical cord still
attached, signs of blood present on the babies skin and wrinkles, I love
Mueck’s attention to detail.
Hay Britney
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog as it is simple and not to complicated like others when most are copy and paste. For question 3 I like the way you have define Renaissance Humanism in Muecks work and for question 4 you have forgotten to paste a photo that you would fine challenging or exciting to experience. I also agree on the sculpture that you would fine challenging or exciting too but it would be better if you had uploaded a photo
thanks!!! for some reason the photo hadn't moved across when I had moved the document from word... so there is now a photo.. x
DeleteHi Brittney,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog as a whole, it was easy to understand the idea of humanism through the renaissance. I like how easily you explained what hyper-real is, and i also like how you've stated the sizes of his sculptures. I feel as though I too am interested in his 'A Girl' sculpture. Im not sure if being female contributes to the idea of getting a warm feeling when i see the sculpture or merely the fact that the infant IS a girl. I too like his ee for detail and the way he has portrayed this baby almost as if an exact replica.
* eye for detail
ReplyDelete