Ron Muesk exhibition - from June 8 to November 5, 2023

The Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art invites the sculptor Ron Mueck to exhibit a set of works never shown in France alongside emblematic works from his career. Discover his monumental installation Mass, presented outside Australia, as well as a large-scale sculpture designed for the occasion.

Exploring a new creative process

The Mass installation marks a new milestone in Ron Mueck's career. This work commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria is the largest he has ever produced. Composed of one hundred human skulls, Mass is reconfigured by the artist according to the space for each presentation. The word "mass" meaning both a heap, a heap, a crowd is a source of interpretation specific to each visitor.

Form and movement

Mass marks a turning point in Ron Mueck's career. The artist moves away from his previous practice, which focused on reproducing the texture of the skin, the location of the hair, the details of clothing on his sculptures. He now focuses on form, composition, and movement, Ron Mueck brings the visitor closer to his intention and the essence of his work.

Known for his 3 emblematic works of the 2000s

For Baby (2000), a tiny sculpture of a newborn baby boy, Ron Mueck took as his model an image found in a doctor's manual showing a baby held in the air by the feet after delivery. Man in a boat (2002) depicts a man in a boat leaning forward with a questioning or scrutinizing gaze. A girl (2006), a gigantic newborn. The artist plays on a distortion of scale to evoke the miracle and the ordeal of birth.

Ron Mueck, an artist with surprising works

Born in 1958 in Melbourne and living in the United Kingdom, Ron Mueck develops a work that touches on the universal and renews contemporary sculpture. He creates works of surprising dimensions and imbued with a disturbing strangeness. Many months and sometimes years are necessary for him to create each of the sculptures. In 25 years he has produced forty-eight works, the first 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 comprehensive exhibition to him in 2013.