Big Man

Untitled (Big Man) - Ron Mueck (2000)

Ron Mueck (born 1958) is an Australian sculptor who is working in the United Kingdom.

The picture above shows his sculpture Untitled (Big Man) made in 2000. It is a nearly seven-foot sculpture of a naked, completely hairless, belligerent-looking man sitting with his knees drawn up and his elbows resting on his knees, his head in his hand. The work is designed to sit in a corner.

The sculpture is owned by the "Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden" in Washington, D.C., and has become one of the museum's most popular works ever since its acquisition.

All the above is from Wikipedia´s article on Ron Mueck
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When I first saw this picture a few years ago my instinctive reaction was anger and bewilderment.

"What sick bastard would devote himself to making such a derisive comedy picture of another human beings deformity", was what I thought. (In those first days I actually still thought it was a picture of a living person.) I quickly moved on to something else, but I couldn't forget it and over time the image started pulling me back again and again.

Although he is a really big man there is something acutely defenseless about him, sitting there naked and exposed. unshielded. Alone. He seems to be protecting himself from the camera - and against us the onlookers - by assuming almost a fetal position. His back is curved, the head is bowed, and the limbs are bent and drawn up to the torso. He has crawled into the corner of the room. Or perhaps we drove him there?

Even his glare seems to me more defensive than belligerent. The eyes hold more of a warning "Stay away from me! Don´t come any closer, or else..."

Nowadays I think it´s a beautiful statue and the man has become beautiful to me also.

This is a picture showing the same statue with visitors to the museum, just so you get a feel of it´s true size.