Art Imitates Life

Capturing human forms and emotions is what hyperrealistic sculptor Marc Sijan does best 

- Zara Zhuang

On The Shores of Lake Michigan, keeping watch at the training centre of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team is a reticent, unmoving guard who once famously annoyed Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Michael Jordan with his lack of response, so much so that Jordan made it a point to complain to Bucks officials about him. But he couldn’t help being rude — he’s a sculpture by Marc Sijan, and his name tag simply reads “Art”.

Life-size sculptures of security guards — and he’s made a number — have become Sijan’s calling card. They are among dozens of figures he has created over his four-decade career, based not on the celebrities that are cast in wax for Madame Tussauds galleries worldwide but on ordinary people he spots on the street. One of Sijan’s security guard sculptures was modelled after his late father, Sylvester.