Acquisitions

ARTIST ROOMS: The d'Offay Donation

Ron Mueck (born 1958)

One room featuring three sculptures: Wild Man, 2005; Spooning Couple, 2005; and Mask III, 2005.

Ron Mueck has become internationally recognised for his unique realist sculptures that replicate the human figure with unrivalled technical skill. The powerful psychological range of Mueck’s sculpture focuses not only on universal experiences of birth, life and death but on emotional states such as isolation, fear and tenderness. The three works in The d’Offay Donation represent the scope of Mueck’s approach to the human condition, from the uneasy intimacy of Spooning Couple, the vulnerability of the giant Wild Man,and enigmatic half-smile in Mask III. He first became widely known for his sculpture Dead Dad shown in Sensation in 1997. His use of widely different scales would not be considered strange within the conventions of painting but has a particularly strong effect in this realist sculpture. It is part of the artist’s relationship with his subject and the meaning of the work.

Spooning Couple 2005
Mixed media
140 x 650 x 350 mm
Artist’s proof aside from the edition of 1
Photo courtesy Anthony d'Offay Ltd
© Ron Mueck