13 Hyper-realistic Sculptures by Ron Mueck

While many modern arts strive to glamorize and portray our world to be better than it is, other creators simply find art in our ordinary lives and our simple bodies. Ron Mueck is one of those artists and is now well known for his hyper-realistic modern sculptures where he portrays humans at critical stages in the life cycle, from birth through middle age, to death.

The son of German-born toy-makers, Mueck grew up making creatures, puppets, and costumes in his spare time, experimenting with materials and techniques, and often traveling the hyperrealism road. His craftsmanship led him to work for Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, where he’s featured as a puppet designer and performer on The Muppets and Labyrinth. Later, he was making photo-realistic props and animatronics for the advertising industry. In 1996 Mueck transitioned to fine contemporary art and in 1999 he was appointed as Associate Artist at the National Gallery, London.

Whilst the body proportions of Mueck’s sculptures are always accurate, the scale is often skewed dramatically. For instance, his sculpture Boy reaches an impressive 4.5 meters in height. Another, his personal work titled Dead Dad, renders his late father in half-scale. Mueck uses silicone for the skin of his sculptures as well as fiberglass, acrylic resin and other materials for the base. This may explain why they dip into the ‘uncanny valley’ of eerieness too.

Without further ado, let’s take a little virtual museum tour, and explore the hyper-realistic and mind-blowing sculpture art by Ron Mueck.