Week 4 - Humanism and contemporary sculpture. Ron Mueck's sculpture and Humanism

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 of 'hyper-real' involving or characterized by particularly realistic graphic representation. It derives from the genre of Hyperrealism which is considered an advancement of Photorealism by the methods used to create the resulting paintings or sculptures.

Mueck works with a particular type of hyper-real sculptures, he tend to pay attention to details of skin folds, wrinkles and expression. Although highle detailed, these props were usually designed to be photographed from one specific angle hiding the mess of construction seen from the other side. Mueck's sculptures faithfully reproduce the minute detail of the human body, but play with scale to produce disconcertingly jarring visual images.

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 more interested in working with the scale of the figure which is not ife size, he said :"We meet life-size people every day." He explained that it makes you take notice in a way you wouldn't do if it were normal. He really put his feelings into the work and he tends to show every detail of the human body from every angle. Mueck break the rule,Some of his works are always out of scale from reality, either oversized or undersized. Manipulating scale make his sculpture pretty eye-catching, which amplifies the shocking visual, emotional and psychological impacts. There are two examples: Boy(2000), a five meter high sculpture of a young boy crouching. Two Women(2005),two old ladies much smaller than real life ladies.

Boy(2000)-a five meter high sculpture of a young boy crouching,Mueck uses abnormal scale, a young boy characterized to be much larger than average adult, and we can also image the size of the sculpture if the boy was not crouching.

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.

Renaissance Humanism was a cultural and intellectual movement of the Renaissance that emphasized secular concerns as a result of the rediscovery and study of the literature, art and civilization of ancient Greece and Rome.

Humanism can be apparently seen in Mueck's work, as I mentioned before, he tends to show every detail from every angle of human body. As a result, he shows the normal humans rather than some perfect images.

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

The sculpture I choose is Two Women(2005). This work shows two old ladies much smaller than real life ladies. They are hunched over towards each other in winter coats, with hands crossed and a suspicious look on their faces, which to me suggests they have something to hide. It looks like they are gossiping to each other or have a secret. They are facing slightly to the side, looking at the viewers, as if they are talking about you. It is really interesting. 

                  ---Ron Mueck  Two Women(2005)-----

Reference:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hyperreal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperrealism_(visual_arts) 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Mueck

http://sunseven.hubpages.com/hub/Awesome_Sculptures_Of_Ron_Mueck

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/ron_mueck/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_humanism

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/humanism