Ron Mueck, the Australian sculptor is in the spotlight at the Cartier Foundation with a monumental and surprising exhibition…
Copyright Ron Mueck – Fondation Cartier
Revealed to the French public in 2005
The Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art invites the Australian sculptor Ron Mueck to exhibit a set of works never shown in France alongside emblematic works from his career. The public will discover his monumental installation Mass (2017), presented for the very first time outside Australia, as well as a large-scale sculpture designed for the occasion.
With this third exhibition bearing witness to the recent evolution of Ron Mueck’s practice, the Fondation Cartier is pursuing a long-term dialogue with this artist whom it revealed to the French public in 2005 and whose works are as rare as expected.
Copyright Ron Mueck – Fondation Cartier
A striking and realistic universe
Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the striking and realistic universe of the sculptor, whose hyper-realistic sculptures in resin and silicone have captivated audiences around the world. Among the exhibits, the monumental installation “Mass” (2017) is presented for the first time outside Australia. This spectacular work, made up of 100 giant human skulls, offers an immersive experience and challenges the viewer to the human condition. In addition, Ron Mueck has specially designed two new sculptures for this Parisian exhibition, testifying to the recent evolution of his artistic practice. We thus discover “Untitled” (Three Dogs), a new sculpture composed of 3 dogs 3 meters high.
The first French institution to host a solo exhibition by Ron Mueck
Born in 1958 in Melbourne and living in the United Kingdom since 1986, Ron Mueck develops a work that touches on the universal and profoundly renews contemporary sculpture. He creates works of surprising dimensions and imbued with a disturbing strangeness. Many months, and sometimes several years, are necessary for him to create each of his sculptures. He has produced in just over 25 years a corpus of forty-eight works, the last of which will be completed in the spring of 2023 for the opening of the exhibition.
The Cartier Foundation was the first French institution to host a solo exhibition by Ron Mueck in 2005, before devoting a more complete exhibition to him in 2013. These two exhibitions gave rise to several acquisitions and the Cartier Foundation remains today the unique French institution to have works by the Australian sculptor in its collection. The exhibition will then be presented at Triennale Milano from December 2023 to March 2024 as part of the partnership between the Cartier Foundation and the Milanese institution.
