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Since the Stone Age, people have been concerned with the problem of how to represent life   Cave paintings at Lascaux show charging bison with multiple legs that appear to gallop in flickering firelight Protruding lumps of rock add three-dimensionality to animal forms The overlapping ‘Crossed Bison’ demonstrate an understanding of perspective Perhaps even more amazingly, archaeologists now believe they have discovered Paleolithic thaumatropes — bone discs with cleverly matched illustrations on either side that can be spun on threads of animal tendon to give the illusion of movement While all lifeforms, including plants, put a great deal of energy and ingenuity into avoiding death, humans are unique in our endless fascination with the production of ‘lifelike’ images From galloping charcoal stags to leaping bronze satyrs, through Renaissance chiaroscuro right up to digital 3D, we appear to have an unquenchable thirst for artificial portrayals of aliveness, and to value very highly the labours and inventiveness of those who are able to capture it convincingly While the numerous artistic revolutions of the twentieth century might have thrown this persistent human passion into question, it clearly isn’t a craving we are simply free to drop   ‘Crossed Bison’, Lascaux (c 15,300 BC) Ron Mueck makes ‘realistic’ sculptures At first this may seem to refer to the fact that his naturalistically-proportioned figures are awash with signs of both life and mortality: wrinkles, liver spots, excess fat, mottled skin and brushable hair But it’s clear on looking at Mueck’s work that it’s neither the acutely observed surface phenomena, nor the impeccably formed underlying mass, that make his sculptures so persuasively lifelike  As he says, ‘I’m just trying to make them ordinary I don’t want people to see the wrinkles, just the person’ Rather than being wowed by his extraordinary technique, we might instead forget all about it in favour of imagining the thoughts and feelings of the figure being depicted In opposition to the modernist passion for truth to materials, Mueck invites us to forget that these objects are made of fibreglass and