AIR: Ron Mueck

Ron Mueck
England b.1958
In bed 2005
Mixed media
161.9 x 649.9 x 395cm
Purchased 2008. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation

Although created in 2005, In bed takes on new resonance in the COVID-19 era. During the pandemic, we withdrew. Once places of rest, our beds became sites of confinement, isolation and convalescence. Cocooned away, many had time to consider air anew — not just invisible, but as filled with particles, the hazy trace of climate disasters and geopolitical tensions.

An installation view of a realistic sculpture of a giant woman lying in bed, with a visitor looking on.

An installation view of a realistic sculpture of a giant woman lying in bed.

Views of Ron Mueck’s In bed 2005, installed at GOMA for ‘Air’, 2022–23 / © The artists / Photographs: C Callistemon and C Baxter, QAGOMA

Known for creating hyperreal sculptures, Ron Mueck’s In bed uses skills acquired from an earlier career as a puppet-maker in the film and television industry to portray his subjects in psychologically and physically exposed states.

With one hand cradling her face, as she looks into the distance, and her knees drawn up under the bedclothes, this monumental figure offers few clues about her broader life or circumstances. Yet, Mueck’s sculpted woman compels us to look beyond her exaggerated proportions to consider the challenges we share.