Ron Mueck
VAULT spoke to Ron Mueck about process, practice and the inspiration to be found in simply getting on with the work.
Image credit: Ron Mueck, Pregnant Woman, 2002 fibreglass, silicone, polyester resin, oil paint, fibres 252 × 78 cm. National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, purchased with the assistance of Tony and Carol Berg 2003. © Ron Mueck. Courtesy the artist, Anthony d’Offay, London and Hauser & Wirth
Melbourne-born, UK-based Ron Mueck (b.1958) was launched onto the international art stage when his meticulously realistic sculpture Dead Dad (1997), made shortly after his father’s death, was showcased in the Royal Academy of Art’s ground-breaking 1997 exhibition Sensations: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection.
Mueck had begun his creative journey as a puppet maker and puppeteer, coming to the attention of influential art collector Charles Saatchi when his small-scale Pinocchio (1996) was featured in artist Paula Rego’s Spellbound: Art and Film exhibition. Mueck was exposed to artisan craftsmanship through his German toymaker father, later branching into film and collaborating with puppeteer and filmmaker Jim Henson on several projects, including the cult classic Labyrinth (1986).
Mueck’s hyperrealism technique and his ability to capture the human condition has earned him international acclaim with solo exhibitions in France, Italy, US, UK, Australia and, most recently, Denmark, where Art and Life at the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum “invites visitors to consider the human body anew.”
Here, Mueck reflects on his monumental 2002 work Pregnant Woman and the creative process.
Pregnant Woman will be travelling to Maitland Regional Art Gallery, in the Hunter Valley, as part of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) ‘Sharing the National Collection’ initiative. What are your thoughts on getting the National Collection to regional communities?
This is clearly a great idea. I have seen a similar scheme in the UK called Artist Rooms [by the Tate] give people across the country the experience of engaging with works of art they would not normally have the opportunity to see. These . ... Subscribe to read this article in full