From the corner of the room, Ron Mueck’s towering Wild Man stares awkwardly at me like some nervous, naked Colossus of Memnon. My only companion is a toned young man who, like the 12-foot high wild man, wears no clothes. I’ll admit, I cast him curious side glances. He gazes at the art, which gazes back. Gradually he warps, spasms, retreats into a corner and collapses. A series of distressed reflex actions sees him writhing across the cold marble floor, the living embodiment of Louise Bourgeois’ extraordinary Arched Figure that contorts in an adjacent room. At one point he comes within six inches of me and makes contact by staring into my eyes with an intense desperation. All this takes place to Schubert’s poignant G Flat Impromptu.

Ron Mueck’s Wild Man (2005). Image AGNSW

The dancer is the remarkable David Mack and the room is “The Vulnerable Body”, the last of eight classifications in Justin Paton and Emma Chambers’ immaculately curated Nude: Art from the Tate Collection showing at Art Gallery of New South Wales and currently forming part of this year’s Sydney Festival. It’s a stunning, smart, insightful exhibition, but...