I find this work really interesting. I don't really know why. The fact that it involves a woman and a bed might have something to with it. Or so I thought at first, but it's actually not that. I think what makes this sculpture interesting is the fact that it's somehow unsettling. There is too much going on the woman's expression for one thing. There are a lot of intense emotions playing across her face- fear, sadness, loneliness, regret, despair, helplessness- some strong stuff. And because she's so large, it's all amplified. Because of the vivdly large scale, I could be standing ten metres away from her and it would still feel like I'm standing too close. And it's probably designed to feel that way. It's very effective I think.
'Renaissance humanism is the term generally applied to the predominant social philosophy and intllectual and lterary currents of the period from 1400 to 1650.' -The History Guide, lectures on modern European intellectual history.
As far as I can tell this means that Renaissance humanism basically describes people's outlook on life during the renaissance period, in a broad sort of way. In the 1400s society seemed to be changing its philosophies a great deal, and shifting its priorities from those of medieval times. For example, during the medieval times everything was basically focused around religion, and there wasn't much around in the way of science, or individual expression. But during the renaissance period, people became more interested in culture and art, and all paintings no longer had to be about biblical themes. Instead, people were finding a kind of middle ground. Spirituality was still important, but it was being combined with the human experience of life and society in the here and now. People were developing a new appreciation for the actual culture of humanity, and expressing it through their art, with beauty being a big theme throughout. During the renaisance period, artists became much more intersted in finding and expressing beauty through painting, sculpture and architecture. In general, renaissance society's philosophies and priorities became more focused on the human experience of life, and the enrichment of it through culture, art, and relationships. In a way, 'Renaissance Humanism' is basically describing what people's tastes and interests were directed towards during the renaissance period.
So I guess one could say then that Ron Mueck's work is, in a way, an extension of this 'renaissance humanism' philosophy. His 'Pregnant Woman' sculpture is almost a perfect modern counterpart of what artists were doing in the renaissance. It is all about evoking emotion and spirituality through the beauty of the female body, or human form, with a modern touch of the risque, or controversial. In fact, the subject matter of the whole pregnancy and nudity thing would probably have been a little too risque back in renaissance times, but its not much of a stretch to imagine that artists from the renaissance would be making exactly the sort of work Mueck is making now if someone teleported them into today, and gave them the modern tools and technology available to Mueck.
Ron Mueck's work is described as 'hyper real' because he strives to make his sculptures appear as life like as possible, with fastidious levels of detailing - Every wrinkle, muscle, and proportion is anatomically correct, and painted in a highly realistic manner. His sculptures demonstrate a highly skilled craftsmanship, which probably comes from his background as a proffesional model maker and puppetteer in the entertainment industry. He worked on the movie 'Labyrinth' which I haven't seen, but I know that it was a fairly high end Hollywood production, so Ron Mueck obviously knows how to craft convincing life-like figures.
Personally I like that about his work-the fact that he puts real work and craftsmanship into his sculptures. The subject matter of his work is usually people, and I guess one of the interesting things about it is the scale of his sculptures. Its some kind of ironic condraction or something, that even though his figures are presented super life-like, with hyper realistic levels of detailing expression, they are always presented out of scale.
'Pregnant Woman' for example, which, despite its misleading title, is a sculpture of a pregnant woman, is nearly 2.5m tall, which is roughly four times life size I guess. And 'Dead Dad', which literally is a sculpture of Mueck's dead father lying on the floor, is only three feet long. I think Mueck does this because the weird contradiction of his figures being at once hyper realisitc in appearance and completely out of scale from reality creates an unsettling kind of emotional impact that might be lacking if his figures were simply life-sized representations of a bunch of people lying around, or crouching. In his own words:
"I never made life sized figures because it never seemed to be interesting. We meet life sized people every day."
I guess he's got a point. The 'Dead Dad' is probably a good example of this. If he were life sized, it would simply look like some kind of movie prop of a crime scene or something, whereas at only a third of life sized, it becomes more vivid, in the sense that the frailness of life, or the vulnerability of it, is encapsulated in the sculpture's smallness, just like the 'Pregnant Womans' Warmth and mother earthyness (could be a word,could not be, I don't know) is encapsulated more vividly through her imposing size and presence.
