ARTH 110 ART APPRECIATION- Essay #1 Scale and Proportion: Ron MueckMask II

Scale and Proportion

The artist I want you all to look at is Ron Mueck. Mueck used to work in the special effects industry in Hollywood until he decided to pursue fine art. Ron's sculptures are hyperrealistic depictions of people made out of fiberglass, silicone and hair. These sculptures are presented in the gallery space smaller than life like, or gigantic.

Please choose one of Ron Mueck's sculptures from the list below or hunt down your own if none of these inspire you. Imagine yourself in the room with one of these pieces and how it makes you feel. How does the scale and proportion effect the message of the piece? What would your initial thoughts be? Do you feel uncomfortable or at ease? Does the odd scale add anything to the piece? Who are these people to you? What kind of narratives do they invoke?

As with your discussion board assignment, there are no right or wrong answers here. This essay should be an evaluation of YOUR reaction to (virtually) seeing scale and proportion of the work. In short, you will evaluate how scale and proportion were used by Ron Mueck to provide us with an art-viewing experience that is, to say the least, strange.

Titles for the pieces in this Image: In Bed, Mask III, Mass, A Girl, Dead Dad, Wild Man

ARTH 110

The first thing a person notices about the sculptures of Ron Mueck is hyperrealism. The hyperrealism aspect of the sculptures makes them look like real skin that one wants to reach and touch. The hair, wrinkles, and the stubble are convincing in the sculptures. However, in his sculpture, it is the range of scale and sizes that transforms his artistic work because everything is either large or small than lifespan. The scale modifies entices and realism, the viewer of the sculpture with a sense of wonder. A sculpture depicts a sitter that is quite different than a picture. The sculpture presence comes from being forth bodied in the full life dimensions, that is, from space in a similar way as actual people. This gives the artwork a head start. However, the least captivation of the presence of how such articles come to take after portraits, and how they acquire this effective look of life.

Mask II was created in 2002 by Mueck, measuring approximately thirty by forty-six by thirty-three inches in size. A person can look at the sculpture from this slant and wonder if he/she is dreaming, and why a person only sees the head and no other body parts. However, that is where the name of the sculpture comes into play, and there is a purpose why it is known as a “mask.” This self-portrait is almost four times bigger than a life-size mask. Mask II exhibits the delicate play of realities that characterize much of Ron Mueck’s work. Person attention is captured by the artwork’s monumental scale and vivid realism. Also, the understanding of the sleeping man makes one wonder where the man’s dreams take him. However, when a person stride around Mask II, he/she will discover that similar to all masks at the back, it is hallow. The sculpture looks compact from the front, nonetheless divulges itself as a consecrate exterior from the back. The qualities that brand it to appear real include the way that flesh slides down to meet its support. However, it makes the mask unreal since an actual mask could not respond in this manner to gravity.

Once a person moves far from the straight-on sight, one can see that the sculpture is a “mask,” having a thin exterior that has no concrete parts despite the resounding front view that proposes a solid head. The bigger-than-life scale provides the Mask II its super-human presence. This portrays like it is the head of a gigantic or other fantastical creature. Mask II represents the sculpture description, but it also proposes that at first glance, not everything always seems they look. Viewing this gigantic sculpture from a distance makes one have a weird feeling and wondering what is placed in front of you. One can feel uncomfortable until you reach closer to it and realize that it is just a mask having a real feature of a person like real skin that one wants to reach and touch.