Ron Mueck’s Studio, 2013. Photo by Gautier Deblonde

Ron Mueck Exhibition
16.04 – 29.9. 2013

The Australian artist Ron Mueck has been invited to present his new sculpture at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain from 16 April to 29 September 2013. This is his first major exhibition in Europe since the hugely successful Fondation Cartier exhibition of 2005. In addition to six important recent sculptures the show includes three produced especially for this event – two teenagers in the street, a mother and baby and an elderly couple on the beach. A new film recording their creation has been made for the occasion by Gautier Deblonde. Revealing the reclusive artist at work further emphasizes the sensitivity and power of Ron Mueck’s sculpture and highlights its particular resonance for our time.

Ron Mueck, Mask II, 2001

Based in London, Ron Mueck has had highly acclaimed exhibitions around the world from Japan to Australia, New Zealand and Mexico, but shows of his new work in Europe have not been frequent occurrences. Mueck works slowly in his small North London studio, making time itself an important element in his creative process. His human figures are meticulously detailed, with surprising changes of scale that place them as far from academic realism as they are from pop art or hyperrealism.

Ron Mueck, Boy, 2000

Whether monumental or smaller than life, Ron Mueck’s sculptures create a tension between the real world and a world of the phantasmagorical. His pensive characters are so lifelike that they seem to breathe. Veins, wrinkles, body hair, blemishes… no detail is neglected. The result is so perfect that the pieces’ resemblance to “real life” can be quite disturbing. After years of working with fiberglass alone, he also uses silicone, a more flexible substance that allows him to directly implant head and body hairs one by one. Ron Mueck has succeeded in coining a language in which artistic realism is brought into the realm of psychology, evoking the personal world of each character.

more. www.fondation.cartier.com