(On some browsers you'll need to refresh this page in order to see the comment you just left.)
Greg - 2006-11-27 17:02:47
No no no... Don't think about going to see it. It's a must! Incredible! I saw a few of his works at that Charles Saatchi hodgepodge show that the Catholics went to war over. I've since seen other pieces at various museums and galleries. Some of them are uncanny. They look more human than humans.
-------------------------------
iwombat - 2006-11-27 17:03:09
I was just looking at the Brooklyn Museum site because a frind of mine who works there was touting this show
-------------------------------
Greg - 2006-11-27 17:07:28
Seriously, if Caravaggio or Ribera lived in the 20th century and sculpted, they'd be Ron Mueck.
-------------------------------
2fs - 2006-11-28 00:34:58
I don't know...maybe I'd feel different seeing these in person - but from the link, the images definitely fall into the "uncanny valley" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley) for me. Particularly that head one.
-------------------------------
Greg - 2006-11-28 01:03:43
2fs--I believe I may have experienced the "uncanny valley" phenomenon in one sense watching a couple different computer animated features in the last couple years. I will maintain though that it was "not quite" because I had already seen that the images on screen were imaged from life actors acting the scenes first. While duly impressed with the imaging technology I felt resentment--like it was a bit of a sham. My experience with the Mueck sculptures that I've seen was quite different. I was drawn into the artist's empathy with the figures he was representing and he's done figures from his own life, like his own father. What I took away is that he was not trying to dupe his audience into a sense of reality, but create a representation--3D portraits not at all different than realist painters. They're really quite touching.
-------------------------------
iwombat - 2006-11-28 09:13:06
I think the "uncanny valley" phenomenon is related to why many people are scared of clowns, and why I don't like puppets.
I saw some of Mueck's work at the BM a few years ago, the power, and the oddness, almost a denial of aesthetics, of the work is in it's extreme realism, a total acceptance of the real, without any "artistic" mediation...
-------------------------------
Chris - 2006-11-28 09:59:20
Iwombat: I agree. Then again Mueck comes from special effects so I am sure he is using the Uncanny valley intentionally. Recent example of Uncanny valley: the kids movie Polar Express. Actually that was just an example of shit filmmaking come to think of it.
-------------------------------
Tom Ronca - 2006-11-28 10:04:32
Chris: yeah, have to agree with you re: Polar Express, When PIxar made "The Incredibles", at a certain point they moved away from a more photo-realistic rendering style, just to avoid "The Uncanny Valley". They's some smart guys up at Pixar...
-------------------------------
add your comment:
back to the entry - Diaryland
