Man on bench - Duane Hanson (1977)

Part of the Hyperrealistic Art Movement beginning in the 1970s in America and Britain, this sculpture is on display at the Saatchi Gallery of London.

Hyperrealism is an off-shoot of pop art, which emphasized the banal or kitschy elements of any culture, most often through the use of irony.

Here however, the work seems to be a more sincere endeavor - Hanson painstakingly creating a realistic lonely, elderly man. Perhaps the irony being in our interaction with the art: in many pictures the figure is roped off while a swarm of gawkers crowd around and take pictures. They are unable to interact with him through any other means.

Historically, the 70's were a decade of great change. The economic boom after WWII gave way to stagnation, causing upheavals and civil wars around the globe. Movements of the 60's, such as civil and women's' rights, began to become more concrete. Production enhancements began speeding up productivity and women working meant a new class of child - those that took care of themselves or had limited supervision. The birth of the personal computers and in-home video games allowed for the birth of disconnection from society on a mass scale, something that has increased tremendously in our modern age.

And this man sits on a bench by himself. Holding a package. Hanson's other works have a certain tongue-in-cheek quality of irony, and perhaps this does too, but I like to think it is sincere.