Robert Rosenblum is Professor of Modern European Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

A distinctive body of work that has given a fresh impulse to modern sculpture.

The stunning and carefully crafted sculpture of Australian artist Ron Mueck has catapulted him into the first rank of the contemporary art world. This book is a record of his recent exhibition at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, for which he created an ensemble of new sculptures, two of which are of gargantuan scale.

Mueck explores reality's ambiguous relationship with artifice. Brilliantly employing the strategies of imitation and illusion, he creates figures that express the contradictions between the real world and the world of the imaginary. His lifelike figures with their veins, wrinkles, sagging skin, and moles have been crafted to such perfection that the remarkably convincing result is deeply disturbing. 90 color illustrations.