While in Christchurch on Tuesday this week to attend the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Crime Fiction Award I managed a spare hour to visit the wonderful Christchurch Art Gallery where they are packing the crowds into the Ron Mueck Exhibition. I had seen a single Mueck sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum several years ago and recall being astonished so was keen to see this exhibition.
First up I headed into the impressive gallery book shop and forked out $50 (gulp) for the exhibition catalogue (right).
The catalogue blurb reads, in part - "Produced in close collaboration with the artist, this authoritative new book celebrates Mueck's remarkable body of work and the range of his creative practice to date. Featuring insightful essays by leading art writers from around the world, and an illustrated catalogue raisonne, this stunning volume affirms Mueck's place as the creator of some of the most evocative sculptures of our time".
That is not an exaggeration and I am delighted to own the catalogue. As a matter of interest this exhibition has previously been at the National Gallery of Victoria and the Queensland Art Gallery and I see the catalogue cost A$30 in Melbourne and A$39.95 in Brisbane.
And I should add that our own Justin Paton contributes two of the essays.
If you live in Christchurch or are visiting there before 23 Januray 2011 I do urge you to visit the Gallery to view this remarkable exhibition, and while there treat yourself to the superb catalogue which is published by the National Gallery of Victoria.
Here for your interest are several of the peices in the exhibition. And yes you are allowed to take photographs provided you do not use a flash.
Footnote:
The Gallery advise me that as of today, 3 December, 53,000 people have visited the exhibition. Wow, that is impressive.
4 comments:
Hi Graham, I can send you an image of the Ron Mueck book cover. Email me at ChchArtGallery@gmail.com with your email address.
Many thanks, catalogue cover no on blog.
I popped in for a look at this too - it was incredible! The realism is extraordinary. I found myself looking at the figure's chests to make sure they weren't breathing. I loved the way he had different scales, from the small to the enormous, and the different response each evoked.
People, if you are in Christchurch, make sure you go!!!
Ron Muek's mask II looks exactly as my ex-husband, whom I have over 15 years of memories of how he looks in his sleep.... I was shocked to see it!!
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