Duane Hanson
Duane Hanson makes startling, lifelike sculptures of middle America using a casting from live models, recreating in bronze or fibreglass resin. He has done this since the early 1970s but the works most pertinant to myself are 'Tourists' (1970) and Tourists II (1988) both made from fibreglass resin and accosories. When they are photographed they look completely lifelike; perfectly capturing the mundane way some American tourists look at the places they visit.
'Tourists' (1970) - Form, Process, Content
Form: This piece is made up of two very lifelike models. The male figure is in his late fifties/early sixies. He has blotchy, sunburn skin and a bald head with little facial hair and round specticles. He is wearing a green and yellow hawaiian shirt, light orange checked shorts, black sandals and is carrying a camera, large camera bag and small tripod around his neck. The woman is clearly his wife. She's a little bit taller and has bronzed better than her husband but is the same age as him. She wears her blond hair in a yellow headscarf and hides her eyes behind round sunglasses. She's wearing blue sleaveless top with matching necklace. She's also wearing unflatteringly tight red trousers and perly sandals. She's carrying a baf in one hand with a pink scarf draping out. The both look like they are observing something in the distance with only the slightest modicum of interest. The man has his hand to his head in an effort to block out the sun.
Process: Duane Hanson made these figures out of fibreglass resin and adorned them with accessories. The figures are based on models whom Hanson thought were the right body-type. Photographs are taken to make the figures look as realistic as possible.
Content: Taking tourists and putting them in the setting of a gallery draws attention to their behaviour out of the context of a foreign place. This makes the viewer reflect on the way that they act when they are tourists in another country; perhaps not looking at it as a real place where people live.