Verisimilitude

“We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand. The artist must know the manner whereby to convince others of the truthfulness of his lies.”

Throughout history, a primary goal in art is to emulate reality. From crudely drawn antelopes on cave walls to immaculately detailed tromp l'oiel, artists have strove to make their work look just like the real thing. However, only recently has technology reached the point where artists are able to make sculptures, and even digital simulations, that look practically indistinguishable from living people. 

Among the most prominent of these hyper-real sculptors is Ron Mueck, a London based artist who makes impossibly lifelike sculptures of people, often with their scale altered dramatically. While it can never match the creepiness of his earlier work (Labyrinth, with David Bowie), these creations are profoundly unsettling. An enormous 4.5m crouching Boy, a 3 ft tall naked man, a 20 ft long newborn, a replica of his own head 6 times its actual size. Consequently his hyper-realistic sculptures, while extraordinarily lifelike, challenge us by their odd scale. The “psychological confrontation for the viewer is to recognize and assimilate two contradictory realities”, says the artist. To achieve this effect, Mueck must go through a meticulous fabrication process:

1. crafts a series of small clay models to decide on figure positioning

2.  creates a series of drawings in different sizes to make decisions about scale

3. sculpts the figure in clay, with details of expression and skin texture

4. a mould of the sculpture is made using silicone (or for larger works, fibreglass).

5. painting (by hand) finer details on the surface, before finally sculpting the eyes, bringing his creations to life.

            

Another notable artist who used similar methods since the '70s is Duane Hanson. Rather than thrusting paradox in the face of the audience by combining realism with impossible scale, he makes sculptures that seem so lifelike they fit into the crowd. Rather than casting them from clay sculptures of his own creation, he uses live models and concentrates on the naked fact of the subject, a perfect counterfeit of another human being as a fully realised physical presence. His work portrays average Americans posed naturally––a retired couple resting on a bench, a cowboy leaning against the wall, an overweight and blistered man on a John Deere lawnmower, and a cleaning lady with a rolling trash barrel and equipment.

In both these cases, the artists have specific reasons for using a hyper-realistic style. Viewers are given a new perspective on what reality consists of, and how it is perceived.