MASTERSTROKE // encounter

Life has been hectic with the usual multitasking while also finishing off my house renovations (which I will post very soon). In between moving and unpacking, I managed to make it to the Art Gallery of NSW to see some exhibitions before they finished this month.

The highlight was Ron Mueck: Encounter and it was truly incredible. His hyperrealistic sculptures are phenomenal with the attention to detail but it is also how he plays with size. Some are oversized while others are petite, yet they are perfectly in scale to the human forms. Mueck creates moulds in clay and plaster, he then uses layers of silicone, fibreglass and resin. Adding paint and texture to mimic skin, then the final application of individual strands to make hair and lashes, giving the figures unbelievable lifelike appearances.

But it is not only the meticulous realism that is jarring, it is the connection and emotion of the figures that resonates. At first you view the (seemingly) loving teenagers until you see the rear view. Initially the man holding her wrist can seem like protective care, but becomes unsettling when you see the tight grip hinting at possession or control. Or there is the way the baby is looking up at the mother, and the physicality of the boy looking at his reflection in the mirror. All of these works show Mueck’s observation of human experience by exploring themes such as birth, relationships, alienation and death. All in all… captivating.