While thinking about Ron Mueck I was struck by the memory of sacred Spanish sculpture from the 16th century I saw at the Getty Museum in 2009.

The same meticulous attention to detail, scrupulous colour matching and blurring between reality and art.

Muecks' representation of the profane have the same power as these sacred images must have had in dimly lit churches and cathedrals.

All the photographs posted on the Blog Mrs Matthews-Art teacher have been taken by Mrs Matthews on her travels around Australia and the world.
Mrs Matthews uses a Sony Alpha 200 DSLR or her trusty Panasonic Lumix compact.
Remember when taking images of artworks to always check the gallery or museum policy first. Most will allow images being taken without flash.

Ron Mueck

"Youth" 2009

A moment in time. The youth stands at 65cm in his perfect attention to detail that we have come to expect fromMueck.

The audience marvels at the intricate details and Muecks' uncanny recording of contemporary life, then we begin to see what has happened. The youth has been stabbed. He can't believe it and the art audience, like motorists driving past an accident , slow down and look more closely. The blood stained T-shirt, the slow realisation on the boy's face that this is not good, the blood oozing from the open wound, the art audience is compelled to witness the aftermath of an act of brutal violence.

Drift 2009

Ron Mueck

The exhibition Ron Mueck has just finished at the National Gallery of Victoria, International Galleries, Melbourne.

The first room featured the sculpture "Dead Dad" that essentially kick started Muecks career as an artist when it was included in the controversial exhibition "Sensation".

"Dead Dad" is a 1/3 scale representation of Mueck's own father, deceased. There is no doubt about the absence of life in this sculpture, the pose, the upturned hands, the pallor- are all accurately, impassively recorded for the audience.

The audience in this room were quitely reverent and respectful around "Dead Dad"

The audience tone however quickly changed as we moved from the dimly lit room featuring the sole sculpture "Dead Dad" to the brighlty lit spaces featuring the other works in the exhibition.

Cameras were quickly out for the massive "A Girl" and crowds, which on the day I visited included many Victorian school children, moved joyously, noisily around the gallery spaces.

The final work in the exhibition is "Drift". Pinned to the wall against a sea of blue, the figure in "Drift" has a worried brow. Perhaps he is contemplating life, death, middle age?

What struck me was the cruciform reference createdby attaching the li-lo to the wall.

"Drift" could be the Messiah if he were a middle aged man in the 21st century.

Mueck is a master sculpture of middle age. He captures the paucity of skin, the wrinkled brow, the sagging belly, the faded colourful boardshorts of one trying to look hip and young.

This is a sculpture that for me places Mueck firmly as one of the great chroniclers of our age.

Photograph taken by Mrs Matthews-Art Teacher

Ron Mueck is an Australian born sculptor who now lives in England.

His work first came to the attention of the artworld in 1996 as part of the "Sensation" exhibition-which featured the collection of Charles Saatchi and included works by the Young Bristish Artists (YBAs) including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin. Muecks work in Sensation was "Dead Dad"

Big Man 2000

This sculpture was part of an exhibition at the Smithsoinan Institution - Hirshorn Museum and sculpture garden - Washington DC in 2009.

Made from polyester resin and fibreglass, "Big man" continues Mueck's investigation of realism and distortion of scale. Big Man is 205.7 x 117.4 x 209.0 cm.

The audience is intriqued by the technique, the attention to detail and the realism and at the same time concerned and perhaps even disgusted at the naked big man sitting in the corner.

America the beautiful.

Electronic Superhighway: Continental US, Alaska & Hawaii

1995

Nam June Paik

This enormous artwork by Paik is located in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC.

This museum is not located on the National Mall with the other Smithsonians but is in downtown DC. The museum features the most fantastic contemporary Atrium linking older buildings together and house a remarkable collection of both historical and contemporary visual and applied arts.

A feature not seen in Australian galleries or museums is the open storage collection, and the conservation center. Both gave an insight into the behind the scenes aspects of curating, conservation and managing the collection.

Paiks' work "Electronic superhighway" is approx. 14 metres long by 5metres high and includes 49 channel close-circuit video elements and neon tubing.

you can find more about this artwork at http://www.americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=71478

Photograph taken by Mrs Matthews-Art teacher

Measuring the Universe.

This performance based artwork was undertaken at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 2009. Attendants at the museum measured visitors height just as parents measure their children's height. Mrs Matthews-Art teacher has her name recorded twice as she visited the space twice. The attendant wrote her name and the date at the point where the top of her head was against the wall. As you can see traces of thousands of visitors are recorded in this performance based artwork. The room had four walls with the names of visitors recorded.

Photographs taken by Mrs Matthews-Art teacher