‘New Works by Ron Mueck’ Review: Craft Meets Emotion, Personified

Fort Worth, Texas

Many people outside the art world are attracted to the sculpture of Ron Mueck for the wrong reason. “Oooh,” they say to themselves, “it’s so realistic and looks so hard to do—not like that ramshackle, gimmicky, unskilled modern art you see so much of these days.” Some art critics have complained about Mr. Mueck’s sculpture for another wrong reason. “It’s just soulless trompe-l’oeil,” they say in essence, “like superhero-movie special effects except that they don’t move.”