Tag Archives: realistic sculpture

Vija Celmins

Vija Celmins is a Lativian-American who has been engaged in art since she was a child. She has a career spanning over fifty years in Los Angeles and now New York, and continues to create amazing works of art to this day. She is featured in Manhattan at the Met Breuer. Starting her career in the 1960s, she drew and painted everything from her stove burner and lamps to the waves from her beach walks.

Untitled (Big Sea #1) 1969
https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/vija-celmins-met-breur-1684402

She uses graphite pencil in life-like yet surreal ways, observing nature or rendering images from magazines and newspapers.

Untitled (Spider Web #1) 1998
https://ago.ca/agoinsider/icymi-vija-celmins-her-own-words

Vija, in an interview, commented on her works made from using real life and newspaper clippings, saying about her art:

“This is an invented thing. You know that it’s not like a copy of nature, or copy of photograph. It’s an invented thing you have in front of you” (Vija, Art21 32:49).

She has been inspired to make art concerning space in much of her work after the 1960s space race and the moon landing in 1969.

Night Sky #18 1998 Vija Celmins born 1938 ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Lent by Anthony d’Offay 2010 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/AL00178

Vija also uses paints and sculpture to bring her art alive. In her work “To Fix The Image In Memory”, she made bronze casts of eleven different rocks and than painted the casts to resemble the real rocks as much as possible. In the work, the rocks and casts are placed together and the viewer is challenged to tell the real life and painted ones apart. Vija saw this as a way

“…to create a challenge for your eyes. I wanted your eyes to open wider ” (Celmins).

To Fix The Image In Memory 1977-82
http://www.genetology.net/index.php/73/anthropology/archaeologie/

Vija emphasizes the fact that the canvases are part of her work and she spends a good amount of time preparing and “building” them.

“…I often now talk about building a painting instead of painting a painting,” (Vija, Art21 31:14).

she commented when explaining her process of sanding, applying paint and then sanding again as she adds more layers to her work and rethinks the work as a whole.

Vija at Work
https://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/book_report/chuck-close-in-conversation-with-vija-celmins-about-her-dense-yet-infinite-drawings-54732

Vija’s work is meticulous but creative in the way she brings her works to life.

Clouds 1968
https://www.vogue.com/article/vija-celmins-retrospective-met-breuer-review

The thoughtfulness and humility that she speaks with when explaining her work is clearly seen in the works of art themselves. Though many of them are black and white images, the works come to life and feel as if they are moving and breathing.

Ocean 1975 Vija Celmins born 1938 Purchased with assistance from the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, courtesy of the Judith Rothschild Foundation 1999 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P78336

Her work is truly inspiring and thought-provoking in a simple and calm manner.

Works Cited

“Vija Celmins In.” Art21, art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s2/vija-celmins-in-time-segment/. 32:49.

Celmins, Vija. “Vija Celmins. To Fix the Image in Memory. 1977-82: MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/collection/works/100210.

“Vija Celmins In.” Art21, art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s2/vija-celmins-in-time-segment/.31:14.

Vija Celmins

Ron Mueck – Ariana

Image result for ron mueck working on his sculpture
Ron Mueck working on one of his hyper-realistic sculptures.

Ron Mueck was born in Australia to German parents in 1958. His parents were toy makers and he grew up making all sorts of toys, dolls, and outfits. Later, he began his career in making models and worked in the art of puppetry. Soon after, he began creating realistic pieces for an advertisement company. By 1996, Mueck committed his life to his own contemporary art, abandoning any commercial company he would have worked with.

Ron Mueck creates hyper-realistic, large and small scale, human sculptures out of resin, fiberglass, silicone, and other materials. Unlike other artists, Mueck chooses to use his art to portray current human life. He creates sculptures that depict people from all stages of life, ranging from birth to death. While putting a piece of his own personality into all of his work, Mueck strives to show the audience what life really looks like. He doesn’t want to sugar-coat it or sweep it under the rug. He feels like life needs to be seen the way it is felt.

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“A Girl” – Ron Mueck

Pictured above, is Ron Mueck’s “A Girl,” where he depicts a new-born, baby girl. He uses the scale of the sculpture to emphasize the trauma and the miracle of child birth. The baby has a disgruntled face, as most do when they are first born. The sculpture also has red coloration throughout to show that the baby experienced some sort of trauma, i.e. birth. Child-birth is such a mystery to many people, as no one remembers what it felt like, but Mueck created this piece to show the reality of the event.

Image result for ron mueck a boy
“Boy” – Ron Mueck

Another ginormous sculpture that Ron Mueck created is called “Boy.” The boy’s stature and facial expression makes the viewer wonder what the boy is going through. The sculpture is relatable in a way that the audience is drawn into his emotions, wondering what is going on.

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“Mask II” – Ron Mueck

“Mask II” is the second independent, gigantic face that Mueck has displayed. This piece depicts a relatable man, seemingly lying on the platform it is displayed. This sculpture represents the everyday man in society because of the imperfections that are shown, He has wrinkles, a five o’clock shadow, and even some gray hair. Mueck uses this relatability to pull at the audience’s emotions when seeing the sculpture’s face morphed into a concerning look.

Image result for ron mueck spooning couple
Ron Mueck working on sculpture called “Spooning Couple.”

After creating any of his sculptures out of clay, creates a plaster mold, paints some coloration into the mold, then they are then casted into the material Mueck chooses. Typically this is either silicone or fiberglass and acrylic. These materials are used to create the hyper-realistic look that his pieces contain. Afterward, like shown above, Mueck carefully paints the details and sews in the hair.

Image result for ron mueck spooning couple
“Spooning Couple” – Ron Mueck

The sculpture above is known as “Spooning Couple,” and is a small-scale sculpture of a man and woman cuddling. This piece shows the couple with discontented looks and does not portray the “ideal” body types. This is meant to be an image that depicts the imperfections of a relationship. Life isn’t perfect, as Mueck shows in all of his pieces, let alone an intimate relationship.

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“Dead Man” – Ron Mueck

The photo above is a sculpture representing Ron Mueck’s father in “Dead Man.” The piece is quite small and is displayed on a large platform, giving the viewer an immediate sense of loneliness. The man depicted is pale, confirming that the man is dead. This shows that death is lonely to everyone. Death is just another phase of life and Mueck felt that is shouldn’t be shut up and not talked about. It is emotional and everyone has to experience it, as is the basis of all of his work.

Works Cited

Mourier, Adam, and Zoey Coen. “13 Hyper-Realistic Sculptures by Ron Mueck.” Bored Panda, 2019, www.boredpanda.com/13-hyper-realistic-sculptures-by-ron-mueck/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic.

Mueck, Ron. “A Girl.” National Galleries of Scotland, National Galleries of Scotland, www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/94045/girl.

“Ron Mueck.” Widewalls, 2018, www.widewalls.ch/artist/ron-mueck/.

Taylor, Alan. “The Hyperrealistic Sculptures of Ron Mueck.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 9 Oct. 2013, www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/10/the-hyperrealistic-sculptures-of-ron-mueck/100606/.