1. Mueck's sculpture is described as 'hyper-real'. Define the meaning of this term and apply it to his work.
The word "hyper-real" or "hyper-realism" is used in the art world to denote the activity of a group of artists who make paintings "look just like photographs" or in Ron Mueck's case, making the sculptures look like real people.
2. Mueck 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 interested in the "psychological confrontation for the viewer to recognize and assimilate two contradictory realities". one of his works that made Mueck famous was 'dead dad', a silicone and mixed media sculpture of the corpse of Mueck's father reduced to about two thirds of its natural scale. Another sculpture which plays with scale is 'Mask 2' a large scupture of Mueck's face.
3. Define Renaissance Humanism , and analyze the term in order to apply it to an example of Mueck's work. Note that the contemporary definition of Humanism is much broader than the Renaissance definition.
Many writers suggest that the rise of 'humanism' is responsible for the beginning of the renaissance. Humanism is a system of thought that considers human beings, rather than the church, as able to decide their own morals, truths and behaviors. As a result, scholars in the renaissance began to study and books, poetry, grammar and histories of classical (Greek and Roman) authors, rather than being forced to study those of the church.(ALVC resource book 2011)
The idea of humanism can be related to Ron Mueck's work in a way where he makes sculptures to show human features in detail and how "humanism is a system that considers human beings, rather than the church."
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. Comment on other student blogs to develop the discussion around the variety of our own personal and individual responses to art and design.
Dead dad was a hyper-realistic nude sculpture of Mueck’s father lying on the floor and is reduced to about two thirds of his actual size. Made of silicone and mixed media, this sculpture was made after the death of his father and is the only sculpture where he uses his own hair. I would find this very interesting to experience in an art gallery. It would be an awkward experience because of its small size i would have to bend down and take a closer look at it and since its a sculpture of his 'dead' father, i would get the feeling of disrespect because he's dead.
http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/~stam/suomi/stam/hyperreal.html
http://hubpages.com/hub/Awesome_Sculptures_Of_Ron_Mueck
