Like Life Exhibition

Like Life

The Like Life exhibition at the Met Bruere confronted varying depictions of the human body ranging from the idealized white figures of antiquity to hyper-realistic silicone molds that were practically indiscernible from a real person. Themes of the depiction of flesh, articulation, skin and surface, and personal identity were addressed with examples from 1300 to the present. This was a welcome difference from the typical museum collections of classically ideal figures that can only be talked about in terms of form and not through their emulation of life. Many were related to aging and the life/death process, others were celebrations of the materiality of the body. Some of the work dealt with the inherent visceral quality of the human body, sometimes showing only a limb or a heap that had the qualities of flesh.

The exhibition was structured not in a chronological, but a thematic order, which really helped enliven the show. For example, works regarding the treatment of flesh in figure sculpture were all arranged together, a similar group existed for articulated mannequin type figures and so on. Mediums varied drastically throughout the sculptures, many favoring plastics and other castable materials such as wax. Others used materials such as cloth and iron to make figures removed from the typical methods of creating a human form through carving or casting. The most radical departure from traditional methods id Marc Quinn’s self portrait bust made out of his own frozen blood.

Quinn’s head is a shock because we have an adverse reaction to seeing blood for obvious reasons of self-preservation. Much of my own opinion is that bodily fluids are unnecessary materials in art and are often misused when young artists try to make a statement. However, I would be incorrect to discredit using blood entirely. Here Quinn uses his own blood to show that we are all filled with blood and should not be ignored when depicting the self or the human form in general.

Another artwork that stood out simply for its extreme realism was Paul McCarthy’s silicone Life Cast which was exhibited alongside anatomical models and other sculptures approaching the threshold of becoming indistinguishable from a real human. The process of casting someone from life is quite complicated, as it requires the subject to lie completely still and be coated in liquid rubber to form an exact mold. Despite the mold being directly taken from his actual features, it seems almost impossible that a mold could reproduce someone so perfectly without obvious distortions or seam lines. The final texturing and color, including hair and changes in skin tone across the piece, imparting an uncanny likeness to the human body.

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