Artist Ron Mueck unveils new sculptures for major exhibition

ABC NEWS (Australia)

People visiting the art gallery of New South Wales this summer may stumble upon some eerily life-like figures as part of an exhibition from one of Australia’s most celebrated but reclusive sculptors. 15 of Ron Mueck's works are on show in his first solo display in Sydney in more than 20 years.

Transcript

00:00Among sculptures like these, it's hard to shake the feeling you're not alone.

00:07He brings such a tenderness to the face.

00:10Detailed down to the last freckle, eyelash and frown line, Ron Muick's newest exhibition, Encounter, is as captivating as it is confronting.

00:19All of this sculpting is just done so quietly and on his own. They all take months and years to make.

00:27From miniscule to massive, the puppet maker-turned-sculptor's work captures the human experience at its most raw and vulnerable.

00:35Everybody he sees may provide a detail. He's looking at his own feet. He's looking at images on the internet and photographs in newspapers.

00:46That sort of intensity of us burning couple pulling you into the miniature.

00:51What we've seen is that people are totally drawn to them.

00:54And what's been extraordinary for us is just seeing the length of time that's spent with those.

00:58People appearing at them from every angle.

01:01The centrepiece of this exhibition is Havoc, a larger-than-life depiction of dogs readying for a fight.

01:07It's one of around 50 sculptures Muick made over his decades-long career.

01:11He rarely makes public appearances and doesn't give interviews. Instead, hoping his work can speak for itself.

01:17Ron does prefer people to really get their own interpretation of the works.

01:23He doesn't want to give any narratives and that's why it's so interesting to see people's responses and often they're quite different.

01:29You are in the world of that sculpture for that moment. That's what the encounter is.

01:34An eerie world maybe, but one not so different from our own.

01:39bardzo co- Hera from sottofondo.

01:53Everybody wrapping these up.

01:55I'm really excited.

01:57I'm almost niely futurist.

02:01I'm looking for them.

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