PERFECTLY SURREAL: Fort Worth’s Modern unveils 13 of Mueck’s dreamy clones

NO, DON’T GET UP: Mueck’s ginormous “In Bed” is a 20-foot sculpture of a pensive woman lying awake.

Standing over the miniaturized couple that’s spooning, you can see the light-blue veins on the middle-aged woman’s bare abdomen. Then there’s the gigantic bald man who’s angrily sitting in the corner: His testicles that rest on the floor are bigger than my foot (size 12).

The new exhibit of Ron Mueck’s sculptures are so realistic, attendees crouch down and move around — never taking their eyes off — just to see if they can find a bad angle where they can spot that it’s a fake. They can’t. 

The works aren’t just expertly painted latex molds of actually humans: Mueck, an Australian who used to work in Jim Henson’s studio, grossly manipulates scale for every piece. His placenta-smeared, glistening newborn is as long as a tractor-trailer.

Every wrinkle, every skin tone, every stitch of clothing — like the tiny old women who are standing and talking to each other — are exquisitely rendered. But there’s nothing cutesy about Mueck’s work.

Everyone is frozen in a state of dramatic tension. It’s like walking in a quiet dream that’s about to turn into a nightmare.

​Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 3200 Darnell St. Fort Worth. June 24-Oct. 21. Open: Tue-Sat, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. $8. Free on Wednesdays and the first Sundays of every month. 817-738-9215. TheModern.org

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