In 1996, Mueck's career turned to fine art when he made a sculpture of Pinocchio for the painter Paula Rego, his mother-in-law. The sculpture was noticed by Charles Saatchi, who, a year later, included Mueck in his Britart extravaganza Sensation at London's Royal Academy. His beautiful sculpture Dead Dad – an astonishingly lifelike (if half-size) sculpture of a male corpse lying on the floor - drew considerable attention.

In 2000, the National Gallery, London, invited him to become artist-in-residence. A year later, he presented the monumental, 25ft-high Boy at the 49th Venice Biennale (a work which had previously been on show at the Millennium Dome).

Ron Mueck was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1958. He started out as a puppet maker for Australian children's TV, and settled in London (via the United States) working for Jim Henson on Sesame Street and The Muppets and supervising the special effects for two feature films: Dreamchild (1985) and Labyrinth (1986). He still lives and works in London.