More Mueck Ladies

A continuing parade of the little of ladies 'spying on Christchurch.'

Ron Mueck continues at Christchurch Art Gallery until January 23, 2011.

www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz

Ron Mueck - Two Women

Above: Two Women 2005.

Photographed at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

February 2010.

When Kelly Gellatly wrote of Ron Mueck's Two Women 2005 in the Ron Mueck catalogue, she spoke of the artist's ability to undercut the stereotypes into which old women normally fall - "the warm, loving, cuddly grandmother-type...wise, generous, jolly....or the wizened old crone of fairytale fame." And in Mueck's major touring exhibition, now showing at Christchurch Art Gallery, I am reminded again of Gellatly's words and her observation that "part of the shock of seeing Mueck's women," is the fact that they would be so ordinary, so indistinguishable and unremarkable in a crowd.

Above: Two Women 2005 Photographed at Christchurch Art Gallery, Nov.2010

Christchurch Posters "From their ashen faces, thinning hair and osteoporosis-ridden backs, through to their slip-on shoes and bunched, wrinkled tights collected at their ankles," she writes, "there is a conspiratorial, gossipy and decidedly critical air to their encounter....." There's a distinct feeling they're watching you, talking about you, sniggering perhaps, or tut-tutting as they consider the modern world passing them by - both within the gallery and outside on the street, as they peer at you from posters scattered throughout the city.

Mueck's show first opened in Melbourne at the National Gallery of Victoria on February 21, 2010 and then went to Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane before coming to Christchurch. When I was visiting the Melbourne show in February, I interviewed NGV's Curator of Australian Art Exhibitions, David Hurlston, who spoke of Mueck's work, the artist's reclusive nature and his own visit to Mueck's North London studio. He spoke of the compelling nature of Mueck's giant sculptures - their 'WOW factor', and their links back to Rennaissance, Medieval and Greek portrayals of the human form. He talked about Mueck's studio and the artist's traditional approach to working and his sketching and absorbing of a wide range of influences. "He draws influences from the people around him, from people in the street, a moment he sees, a smile, the stance of a woman looking in a window - they're etched in his mind and he takes those back to his studio where he begins with sketches and a clay marquette," says Hurlston. "He has an incredible gift of being able to give life to those observations."

Mueck's North London studio is located in a beautiful old stable building at the end of a lane - "a very romantic, storybook artist studio," says Hurlston. It is a mass of 'body parts,' scaffolding, boxes filled with eyeballs and mannequins - "a head here, an arm there; a level of disarray but also an incredible orderliness. He knows where everything is. You look at the finished pieces and there is a quality about them that alludes to a clean environment; but it's not, it's messy, dirty and over 100-years-old."

Mueck has been quoted as saying "I am a misanthrope." Hurlston describes him as "shy, an enigma, someone who often chooses to be alone." He doesn't like talking about his work either and normally shuns all media interviews. He's very self-effacing. "We had a journalist interview organised to promote the Melbourne show but Mueck vanished ten minutes before it was due to take place. That was no surprise to me," says Hurlston.

Ten years ago Mueck was virtually unknown as an artist and his meteoric rise to international fame has given rise to critics as well as fans. "There are some in the art world who say he hasn't done the hard yards, that he has no art school training, that his work is gimmicky. He's gone from an unknown to the top of the heap in a very short time. His work is attention-grabbing but he's very honest and having seen him at work, having seen his artistic sensibility at play and heard him talk about his observations and his work, I don't think that's true. The proof of how his work touches and attracts people is in the exhibition numbers - over 50,000 in Melbourne in the first 36 days of the show and on average around 1,200 people a day. He sees himself as an outsider in the contemporary art world and he doesn't aspire to sensationalist antics. I believe he's ultimately going to be judged as one of the really important artists of our day," says Hurlston.

www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz www.ngv.vic.govt.au www.qag.qld.gov.au

Ron Mueck continues at Christchurch Art Gallery until January 23, 2011

Ron Mueck - Prepare to be Amazed.

When the Ron Mueck Sculpture show opens at Christchurch Art Gallery this Friday night, there will be plenty of astounded viewers. Mueck has an uncanny ability to create astonishingly life-like works, as you can see from these photographs that I took at his Melbourne show at the National Gallery of Victoria in February.

And it doesn't matter how many times you see the images, or how many times you stand in front of the actual sculptures, there is still a sense of wonder about them. Yet for all the realism, Mueck's distorting scale is what generates the most power I think - the gigantic man (above), the tiny, fragile doll-like old woman in bed (the most powerful and moving of all the works for me), and these two adorable old ladies standing on a plinth, hardly as big as a five-year-old. It becomes realism with a disturbing twist that you will continue to think about long after leaving the exhibition. www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz

It's All in the Feet.

Excuse me for seeming a little preoccupied with feet. I don't have a foot fetish - nothing even slightly resembling one; but I do believe an artist's skill can be measured somewhat by their ability to execute human feet and hands, whether that be in painting or sculpture. Thus it was, that I found myself intrigued by the feet of the Ron Mueck sculptures at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. So lifelike as to be surreal. Ranging from the 'tiny' toes of a (giant) newborn baby to the hairy toes of 'Wild Man' and the mesmerising feet of "Dead Dad," each pair of feet seemed more expressive than the last. London-based, Melbourne-born Mueck is internationally known for the astonishing realism of his sculptures - all of which capture something of the timeless human condition. His show continues at NGV until April 18th and then moves to Queensland Art Gallery (may 8 - August 8), before crossing the Tasman to open at its only New Zealand venue, Christchurch Art Gallery (Sept 30 - January 23, 2011).

Mueck on Show

How delighted was I, when I discovered on a recent visit to Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria, that London-based, Melbourne-born artist Ron Mueck is all for new media; and all for gallery visitors photographing his astonishing sculptures. He's happy for people to take snaps and send them out into the technosphere via facebook, blogs or Twitter - a refreshing stance given that most major galleries still prohibit photography (certainly flash photography), regardless of the fact that they must be losing the battle against tiny modern cameras and cellphones.

Ron Mueck's NGV show is currently breaking all projected visitor records. Viewers are enchanted and enthralled by his realist sculptures and the same thing is sure to happen in Brisbane, when the show moves there in a few weeks' time. And New Zealanders will also get the chance to stand and gaze in awe, when the show comes to Christchurch Art Gallery in October. In preparation for interviewing the gallery's Curator of Australian Art, I had read masses of publicity material on Ron Mueck, seen dozens of images of his works and felt I knew exactly what to expect when I stepped into the show. Suffice to say, I was wrong. No amount of pre-reading prepared me for the emotion impact of the works, their eerie realism, or the degree to which Mueck has captured the essence of humanity in each of them.

Nor was I prepared for the general audience reaction to the works - and being a consummate observer - that's one of the elements of the exhibition I enjoyed the most. While gallery visitors shuffled slowly through the show, I was taking photographs of them taking photographs of the sculptures. I did feel slightly voyueristic at one point and my actions seemed to amuse the security guards but I 'fought bravely on.' I think you could have a very successful second Mueck exhibition - the audience reactions captured in photographs. I wonder if that's ever been done before?

In the meantime, here are a few of my audience photographs for you to browse. And for any New Zealanders checking in, this is one show at Christchurch Art Gallery you won't want to miss - and don't forget to cast your eyes about at the other visitors trying to absorb the uncanny realism of Mueck's works.

www.ngv.vic.gov.au www.christchurchartgallery.org.nz