Jeremy Mayer

As frustrating as Jeremy Mayer's website is to navigate and the annoyances of automatic browser resize found there, none of it diminishes the cool, beautiful aesthetic of his work. Mayer makes people and animals purely out of old typewriters, and wonderfully, in his bio directly and openly states that he does not associate his work with steampunk in any way. Nice. Another thing I find particularly interesting about Mayer's work is that none of his sculptures are welded, soldered or glued: they're all put together via cold assembly. Which is incredible to consider in regard to foresight, design, planning and fabrication when you poke through his galleries. He exhibits regularly at the very exciting looking Device Gallery .

Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck is an Australian hyper-realist sculptor working in the UK. His incredible sculptures of creepy, grotesque, mottled skin and uncannily gigantic proportional figures have adorned the Millennium Dome as well as Charles Saatchi’s living room for a number of years now. It would be fair to say, Mueck’s one of the leading contemporary artists of today.

His early career was as a model maker and puppeteer for children’s television and films, notably the film “Labyrinth” staring Bowie. Mueck moved on to establish his own company in London, making photo-realistic props and animatronics for the advertising industry. This eventually led him to conclude, “photography pretty much destroys the physical presence of the original object”, and so he turned to fine art, in particular, sculpture.

It’s the attention to detail, technical brilliance and the (odd) scale of his figures that takes your breath away. His work, while proportionally correct, is either over or under-sized. For example, an enormous 4.5m crouching Boy, a 3 ft tall naked man, a 20 ft long newborn, a replica of his own head (seen above) 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”. However, the real magical appeal of Mueck’s sculptures lie in the meticulous process, which begins with…

A Girl, Mixed Media. 2006

A Girl, (Installation) 2006

A Girl,(detail) 2006

Spooning Couple, Mixed Media. 2005.

Spooning Couple, 2005 (in progress)

Spooning Couple, 2005. Human hands comparison

Untitled (Head of a Baby), Mixed Media. 2003

Boy, 1999. Mixed media. 4.9 x 4.9 x 2.4 m

Boy, 1999. Top view

Boy, 1999. Close-up

Boy, 1999. Close-up foot

Untitled (Seated Woman), 1999. Mixed media. 25 1/4 X 17 X 16 1/2 inches

In Bed, 2005. Mixed media, 63 3/4 x 255 7/8 x 155 1/2 in. (161.9 x 649.9 x 395 cm). Private Collection

In Bed, 2005. Close-up

In Bed, 2005. Rollers in the hair - Close-up

Big Man, 2000. Mixed media, 80 x 47 1/2 x 80 1/2 in. (203.2 x 120.7 x 204.5 cm). Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Big Man, 2000. Different angle

Two Women, 2005. Mixed media, 33 1/2 x 18 7/8 x 15 in. (85.1 x 47.9 x 38.1 cm). Glenn Fuhrman Collection, New York

Two Women, 2005. Close-up

Mask III, Mixed Media, 2005.

Mask III, 2005 (Installation).

Angel, 1997. Silicone rubber and mixed media . 43 1/3 X 34 1/4 X 31 7/8 inches

Sebastian's Voodoo

Sebastian's Voodoo
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Stella Mcartney

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Paris Youths in Row Over Condoms

Aids activists staged a "die-in" outside the Notre Dame Cathedral Police in Paris made 11 arrests following clashes between groups polarised by Pope Benedict XVI's views over condom use in Africa. Youths in favour of the Pope fought pro-condom activists staging a protest outside Notre Dame Cathedral as worshippers left after Sunday mass. Last week the Pope said condoms were not the answer to Aids in Africa, and that sexual behaviour was the issue. French politicians from a wide range of parties criticised the comments. Comments 'deadly' The Pope's comments preceded a weekend of demonstrations by Aids activists in France. French politicians have been largely critical of the pope's comments Free condoms were distributed outside Notre Dame and Aids-awareness activists Act Up-Paris carried portraits of the pontiff labelling him an "assassin". The Pope's comments are "deadly", said Eric Marty of Act Up-Paris. "More than 20 million HIV-positive people live in Africa. Tell people in Africa that condoms make Aids worse, that's not possible, it's an insult for those who suffer from Aids." But the activists are missing the point, according to Roman Catholic protesters who say the Pope meant that condom use does not provide 100% protection from HIV/Aids. Two surveys at the weekend showed the German-born pontiff's popularity in France has fallen sharply. via BBC News

Lil Red Riding Hood