Ron Mueck David Hurlston

Ron Mueck is known for his extraordinarily lifelike sculptures of people in fragile, naked states: a postpartum woman, a crouching, cornered man and, perhaps most famously, the body of his dead father. Mueck plays dramatically with scale; a newborn baby, with traces of afterbirth and blood, looms impressively over viewers, measuring sixteen feet from crown to foot, while a half-clothed couple would fit easily on a coffee table. In each case, the amount of detail - individual pores and dimples, hairs and blemishes - is uncanny. The figures are disconcerting and yet impossible to resist.

Mueck's obsessive attention to detail and craft has its beginnings in his early days as a model maker and puppeteer for films like Jim Henson's "Labyrinth". It was in 1997, when noted dealer Charles Saatchi discovered Mueck's work and included his sculpture "Dead Dad" in the groundbreaking "Sensation" show, that Mueck began to attract international attention. Today, the artist's sculptures are some of the most widely acclaimed, prominent, and identifiable works of contemporary art. Produced in close collaboration with the artist, this beautifully illustrated book is the first to provide a comprehensive look at Mueck's work to date.

This book offers detailed insight into the artist's ideas and methods and features a catalogue raisonne. It provides essays by leading scholars that highlight the depth of his practice and further affirm Mueck's importance.

David Hurlston is Curator of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Victoria.

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