Ron Mueck Man in Blankets, 2000

Man in Blankets (2000) is one of the first sculptures that Ron Mueck created during his two-year residency at the National Gallery in London, where he was invited to respond to its historical collection. In this work, the diminutive form of a sleeping man is cocooned inside a nest of woollen blankets, his brow furrowed and hands clasped protectively under his chin. Shielded from the world, the naked figure assumes a fetal position inside the cosy warmth and protection of his swaddling blankets, suggesting the experience of, or the desire for, a return to the womb. In his sculptures, Mueck explores the full gamut of human life – from ‘womb to tomb’ as Robert Rosenblum describes it – and here he has created an amalgam of infant and adult experiences, perhaps suggesting the return to a childlike state that predates grownup cares and responsibilities.