Tiny old dears, giant new born babies, enormous dismembered heads and naked old men. While this may sound like the backdrop to some twisted new wave horror flick it is in fact a list of some of the subject matter used by Australian hyper realist sculptor Ron Mueck in some of his work. The first and only time I saw Mueck's work in the flesh was at the Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy in London in 1997. The sculpture on display was a small 3ft model of his father naked. Although this all sounds a bit sinister it was one of the most unbelievable things I've ever seen. At first I actually mistook it for a real 3ft old boy lying lifeless stretched out on the floor, I was on the verge of alerting security until I looked closer and realised it was actually part of the exhibition. Even after closer inspection it was still hard to tell it wasn't real as every hair and pore on the face could be seen close up. Click the link for more pictures, links and info:

Of course I was simply baring witness to the culmination of many years graft. Mueck's early career was in fact as a model maker and puppeteer for children's television and films, notably the film Labyrinth for which he also contributed the voice of Ludo, and the Jim Henson series The Storyteller. Mueck moved on to establish his own company in London, making photo-realistic props and animatronics for the advertising industry. Although highly detailed, these props were usually designed to be photographed from one specific angle hiding the mess of construction seen from the other side. Mueck increasingly wanted to produce realistic sculptures which looked perfect from all angles.

In 1996 Mueck transitioned to fine art, collaborating with his mother-in-law, Paulo Rego, to produce small figures as part of a tableau she was showing at the Hayward Gallery, Rego introduced him to Charles Saatchi who was immediately impressed and started to collect and commission work. This led to the piece which made Mueck's name, Dead Dad, being included in the Sensation show at the Royal Academy the following year. Dead Dad (mentioned above) is a rather haunting silicone and mixed media sculpture of the corpse of Mueck's father reduced to about two thirds of its natural scale. It is the only work of Mueck's that uses his own hair for the finished product. Click the links for photos and more:

Ron Mueck - Pantalicious Write Up
Ron Mueck - Wikipedia