“Born in 1969 in Japan, Michihiro Matsouka finds inspiration from his childhood memories and deteriorated devices. Creating worn out devices that fuse animals and fish with machinery, Matsouka primarily uses stone clay for his work, but will incorporate other materials that seem to be suitable. The sculptures are meticulously finished with acrylic paint, which aids his desire to express the progression of time.”
Mueck first caught my eye a few years ago in a newspaper feature. I rather shamefully lost his favourite link on my web browser and I’ve only just re-discovered his stunning work.
The Australian, who lives and works in Britain, started out making props and puppets for television and film (he contributed towards the mad world of Labyrinth and even did the voice for Ludo) before setting up his own London studio making animatronics for the Advertising industry and then transitioning to fine art in 1996.
His sculptures consist of photo-realistic human forms, placed in rather unremarkable scenes, but it’s their scale and detail that forge an unsettling feeling in the viewer. Looking at his Woman in Bed, it feels like being transported back to a child state, looking upon the adults as powerful and all-knowing, only this time your senses are far more finely tuned, and the woman is not formidable, but instead isolated and vulnerable.
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