I've been following this guy (not literally) for a while now - his sculptures are eerily realistic and beautiful. There's a few good links on <ahref="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Mueck">Wiki and a few hundred photos on <ahref="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/ronmueck/">Flickr.

'Ron Mueck (born 1958) is an Australian hyperrealist sculptor working in Great Britain.

Mueck's early career was as a model maker and puppeteer for children's television and films, notably the film Labyrinth for which he also contributed the voice of Ludo.

Mueck moved on to establish his own company in London, making photo-realistic props and animatronics for the advertising industry. Although highly detailed, these props were usually designed to be photographed from one specific angle hiding the mess of construction seen from the other side. Mueck increasingly wanted to produce realistic sculptures which looked perfect from all angles.'

almost the same pose...

Ron Mueck lives in the house opposite mine - he's a really nice guy, and his house is full of his work!

Really?! Cool.

I take it he has a massive house then? Wouldn't wanna wake up with that sculpture in the corner of my room.

No - he lives in a small Victorian semi. Masks all over the place - several from his days at Jim Henson's workshop. At one point he was interested in using me as a model - no lies - but I couldn't really face the thought of a 20ft tall replica of my head hanging on the wall of a gallery!

Don't blame you mate.

Talented guy.

While amazing in its own right, this piece could be transcendant with a little technical gadgetry -- imagine you're standing in awe at this, looking right into the eyes, and hidden motion sensors detect where you're standing and the eyes shift to look at you.