A self-portrait that is nearly four times larger than life-sized, Mask II demonstrates the subtle play of realities that characterize much of Mueck’s work. Our Friends.

Born in 1958 to German parents in Melbourne, Australia, Ron Mueck grew up in the family business of puppetry and doll-making. Our Friends. Our attention is immediately arrested by the artwork’s vivid realism and monumental scale. A sculpture entitled "Mask II" by sculptor Ron Mueck, at the San Ildefonso Museum in Mexico City, on September 20, 2011. Spooning Couple Ron Mueck. In 1996 Mueck transitioned to fine contemporary art, and in 1999 he was appointed as Associate Artist at the National Gallery, London. The MFAH exhibition Ron Mueck features one of the artist’s most well-known works: Mask II.

Ron Mueck - Mask II Ron Mueck - Mask II Listen to a live recording of commentator and historian Richard Wolfe, author of New Zealand Portraits, discussing Ron Mueck's Mask II…

Without further ado, let’s take a little virtual museum tour, and explore the hyper-realistic and mind-blowing sculpture art by Ron Mueck.

In 1996, he was asked by Paula Rego to make a small figure of Pinocchio for her group exhibition Spellbound: Art and Film, at the Hayward Gallery, London.

As reproduced in Anatomy The human body can be one of the most beautiful, but also, in more traumatic times, one of the most unsettling things you’re likely to behold. He worked initially as a creative director in Australian children's television, before moving to America to work there in film and advertising. A sculpture entitled "Mask II" by sculptor Ron Mueck at the San Ildefonso Museum in Mexico City.

Mask II (2001–2) by Ron Mueck. Mueck’s sculptures are so lifelike that we find it hard to believe that they are modelled and cast in the traditional way rather than cast from life, even though, as is the case with ‘Mask III’, it is many times the size of a human head.The work is highly idealised and made to have even rounder and more benign-looking features than those of a person it was based on. Mask III (in progress) Ron Mueck. REUTERS/Henry Romero REUTERS/Henry Romero Reuters / Wednesday, September 21, 2011 Mask