BOCA RATON, FL.- The Boca Raton Museum of Art reveals the artistic journey of leading American sculptor, Duane Hanson, who transforms everyday people into lifelike works of art. This unique Hyperrealism exhibition, Duane Hanson: Photography & Sculpture 1977-1995, presents several sculptures, down to every detail, accompanied by more than 30 photographs and snapshots. The exhibition runs from January 27 through April 26, 2009.

Hanson's super-realist sculptures are cast from human models and rendered in polyvinyl, auto body filler, or bronze. The "skin" of the sculptures is painted in such detail as to resemble human flesh. The sculptures are then finished with clothing, hair, jewelry and other accessories.

“The haunting lifelike sculptures of Duane Hanson still shock and surprise us today,” said Wendy Blazier, Senior Curator of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. “These provocative realistic sculptures of everyday people raise questions about the distinction between reality and illusion and invite the viewer to think about the relationship of art to life.”

Although Hanson began making hyper realistic sculptures in 1967, he introduced an instant camera into his artistic process in 1977. His focus was everyday people – construction workers, shoppers, tourists, high school students. Like photographic sketches for his remarkably lifelike figurative works, these images reveal the thinking, slight changes in poses or prop placement, and the shifting refinements which Hanson brought to the creation of his sculptures. Although intended as visual assists during the making of his sculpture, the photographs in vertical or horizontal grids, or as multisnapshot series, add an eerie dimension to Hanson’s now-famous sculpture, while bringing into question the relationship between photography, sculpture, art and life.