So Fake It's Real

"Life imitates art much better than art imitates life."

Oscar Wilde (playwright)

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Two teenagers stand still, their bodies pressed together. Both gaze vaguely out into the distance. The boy seems as if he’s about to tell his lady friend a secret. Is he shy? The words must be stuck in his throat: "I love…"

Wait! Don’t fall for the trick! There’s nothing to hear here.

Why not? These aren’t real people. They’re sculptures.

Ron Mueck, "Young Couple", 2013, private collection. © Beatriz Ferreira de Assis.
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Contemporary Australian artist Ron Mueck is the artist behind Young Couple. Working from his studio in London, he builds these hyper-realistic figures from silicone and oil paint.

The characters are depicted in incredible detail: the dimensions of their bodies, the color of their outfits and texture of their skin. They are perfect imitations of people.

At least, almost perfect.

Ron Mueck, "In Bed", 2005, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, Australia.

Though proportionally similar to people of larger stature, the Young Couple is less than three feet tall.

All of Mueck’s sculptures are extreme: some are gigantic and others are quite small, but none are average height. The artist loves to play with scale because, as he says, "It makes you take notice in a way that you wouldn’t do with something that’s just normal."

Ron Mueck, "Standing Woman", displayed in 2011 at Towada Arts Center in Towada, Japan.
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And Mueck rewards those who take notice. From the front, the couple look like two young adults, little lovebirds. But taking a tour around the back, an important detail comes into view. The boy is gripping the girl’s wrist. Tightly. The skin across his knuckles is taught and the veins in his arm are visible.

The gesture looks more sinister than sweet, and the sculpture’s message suddenly becomes much less clear. What seems simple on the surface—puppy love, perhaps—hides a far more complex reality.