MILWAUKEE \u2014 He’s known across the world. His art is in dozens upon dozens of private collections and museums. Yet, in Milwaukee, he is seemingly just another guy you pass in the grocery store.<\/p>\n
“It always seems that the hometown kid – I have more popularity in every other place in the world, it seems.”<\/p>\n
That doesn’t bother him, though. That man is artist Marc Sijan. He is one of the best hyper-realism sculptors in the world. His Bay View studio is filled with tons of life-like sculptures, half-finished sculptures, face masks, and more.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
James Groh<\/p>\n
A sculpture of Jesus by Marc Sijan. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s probably the oldest subject matter known to mankind. Everybody\u2019s always interpreted the human anatomy. The caveman, the Romans, the Greeks, the modern-day man,” Sijan said.<\/p>\n
Hyper-realistic sculptures are Sijan’s interpretation of the human body. He turns real-life people into sculptures or finds inspiration from the world around him. Each sculpture is so real that all they’re missing is a pulse.<\/p>\n
Obviously, from afar, these sculptures look real. However, when you take a closer look, you find the beauty is in the fine details. Sijan possesses a unique ability to show how the skin ages, emotion in the eyes, the spectrum of colors on our bodies, the slight rise of our veins, the dirt on our fingernails, and the size of our arms and legs. Sijan captures a lifetime of experiences in a single sculpture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go with my wife somewhere, and I\u2019m always thinking and I\u2019m always looking at people. Sometimes I see somebody walking down the street, and I want to capture that image in my mind or with a photo,” Sijan said.<\/p>\n
While Sijan might not be a household name in Milwaukee. There is one sculpture of his in the city that has garnered a lot of attention. It’s the guard standing in a corner of the Baird Center. If you’ve been to the convention center, you’ve likely done a double or triple take to see if he is real or not. <\/p>\n
Watch the video below to see more of Marc Sijan’s work…<\/b><\/p>\n
One of the world’s best hyper-realistic sculptors lives in Milwaukee<\/p>\n
Sijan loves that his art makes people stop and think. It’s the specific medium that lends itself to such dramatic effects.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dimensional quality. The tactile quality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each statue takes about four to six months to create. They weigh about 50 pounds. They\u2019re all hand-painted and have medical-grade prosthetics. He uses dental equipment for all the fine details like wrinkles and fingerprints.<\/p>\n
Sijan honed his craft while pursuing an arts degree from UW-Milwaukee in 1971. Fast forward 50 years, and now his statues are in private collections and museums across the globe. And where you see his statues, people are looking at his work\u2014seemingly waiting for the statue to blink, breathe, or move. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat motivates me? To outdo myself. To outdo something I\u2019ve done before, all of them I\u2019ve done before. To make the next one unique and have its own message.” Sijan said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
James Groh<\/p>\n
A variety of sculptures by Marc Sijan. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s all about the message. Each statue tells a story. Sometimes it can be obvious. Other times, it takes a deeper look. He\u2019s constantly looking for another story to tell. It\u2019s the never-ending pursuit of the next great piece that fuels artists like Marc Sijan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Let’s talk:<\/p>\n Hey there! At TMJ4 News, we’re all about listening to our audience and tackling the stuff that really matters to you. Got a story idea, tip, or just want to chat about this piece? Hit us up using the form below. For more ways to get in touch, head over to tmj4.com\/tips. <\/p>\n It\u2019s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24\/7 by searching for \u201cTMJ4\u201d on your device.<\/b><\/p>\n Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n Report a typo or error<\/b><\/a> \/\/ Submit a news tip<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE \u2014 He’s known across the world. His art is in dozens upon dozens of private collections and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[18890,365,362,363,364,35660,35661,35662,35663,35664,35665,366,18,117,35666,35667,19,17,35659],"class_list":{"0":"post-48190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-artist","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-baird-center","14":"tag-baird-center-guard","15":"tag-baird-guard","16":"tag-cassandra-mcshepard","17":"tag-cassandra-mcshepard-fox-6","18":"tag-cassandra-mcshepard-tmj4","19":"tag-design","20":"tag-eire","21":"tag-entertainment","22":"tag-groh","23":"tag-groh-on-the-go","24":"tag-ie","25":"tag-ireland","26":"tag-james-groh"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}