Ron Mueck's meticulously sculpted figures, ranging from the minute to the monumental, each reflect an inner world of private feelings with unsettling power. The startling realism of these works invites an empathetic engagement with the challenges and perils of our shared humanity. The artist's intimate, understated meditations on universal experiences and emotions, such as birth, death, vulnerability, fear and compassion, invite viewers to reflect on their own and those of others. His work elicits an immediate emotional response by using all the traditional elements of his medium – pose, gesture, facial expression, scale and realism – to create powerful psychological portraits of the human condition.
Having begun his career in the world of film and television, Mueck's move into fine art was initiated by a collaboration with Paula Rego at the Hayward Gallery in 1996. A year later, his sculpture Dead Dad, a three-foot representation of the artist's father, became a highlight of the era-defining Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. This landmark group show established Mueck as one of the most important artists of his generation. In 2000, he was invited to spend two years as artist-in-residence at the National Gallery in London, with a remit to create work in response to the permanent collection. The sculptures made during that time were presented in a solo exhibition at the National Gallery in 2003.
Mueck was born to German parents in Melbourne, Australia, in 1958, and now lives and works in the UK. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions at prominent institutions, including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas (2018); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2017); Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland (2016); Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (2016); Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (2014); and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2010). In 2017, Mueck was invited to make a new work for the inaugural NGV Triennial in Melbourne. The resulting installation, Mass, which consists of 100 giant skulls piled high amongst the gilt-framed paintings in the museum's collection of 18th-century art, is his most monumental work to date.
Photo: © Gautier Deblonde, DACS/Artimage 2024.
2024
Ron Mueck, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands
Ron Mueck – Art and Life, ARoS, Aarhus, Denmark
2023
Ron Mueck, Triennale Milano, Milan, Italy
Ron Mueck, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, France
2022
Ron Mueck, The MAC Belfast, Northern Ireland
2021
Ron Mueck: 25 Years of Sculpture 1996–2021, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
2018
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX, USA
2017
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA
ARTIST ROOMS: Ron Mueck, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, UK
2016
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampa, Finland
The Theseus Temple, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
2015
NGC@WAG, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada
Pregnant Woman, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, Australia
2014
Ron Mueck, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Ron Mueck, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
2013
Ron Mueck, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
Ron Mueck, Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires, Argentina
ARTIST ROOMS: Ron Mueck, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton, UK
2012
KickArts Contemporary Arts, Cairns, Australia
Ron Mueck, Hauser & Wirth, London, UK
2011
Ron Mueck, Antiguo de San Ildefonso, Mexico City, Mexico
Ron Mueck, MARCO – Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
2010
Ron Mueck, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Ron Mueck, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
Ron Mueck, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
ARTIST ROOMS: Ron Mueck, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
2009
ARTIST ROOMS, National Galleries of Scotland, Scotland, UK
2008
Mueck at McClelland, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Australia
Ron Mueck, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art-Kanazawa, Kanazawa, Japan
2007
Ron Mueck, A Girl, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga - CAC, Malaga, Spain
Ron Mueck, National Gallery of Canada - Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Ron Mueck, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX, USA
Ron Mueck, Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2006
Ron Mueck, National Galleries of Scotland, Scotland, UK
Ron Mueck, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY, USA
2005
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
Ron Mueck: The Making of Pregnant Woman, 2002, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Ron Mueck: The Making of Pregnant Woman, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
Ron Mueck, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, France
2003
Ron Mueck: Hyperreal, Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
Ron Mueck, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands
Ron Mueck: Making Sculpture at the National Gallery, National Gallery, London, UK
2002
Ron Mueck, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Directions: Ron Mueck, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, WA D.C., USA
2001
Ron Mueck: New Sculpture, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY USA
2000
Ron Mueck, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, UK
1998
Ron Mueck, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, UK
2023
Sembra vivo!, Palazzo Bonaparte, Rome, Italy
DIX AND THE PRESENT, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
Reshaped Reality: 50 Years of Hyperrealistic Sculpture, Institut für Kulturaustausch, Palazzo Bonaparte, Rome, Italy
Sin, The Arc, Winchester, UK
2022
Air, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia
Les Choses, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
Sin, York Art Gallery, UK
Mondo Reale, La Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy
2020
Sin, National Gallery, London, UK
2019
Reshaped Reality, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
A Cool Breeze, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic
2018
The Shape of Time, Kunsthistorishes Museum, Vienna, Austria
Hyperrealism Sculpture, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Like Life, Sculpture, Colour, and the Body (1300–Now), The Met Breuer, New York, NY, USA
Almost Alive, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany
A Beautiful Elsewhere, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
The Power Station Of Art, Shanghai, China
A Beautiful Elsewhere, Fondation Cartier, The Power Station Of Art, Shanghai, China
2017
Silveriness: The Art of Old Age, Lower Saxony State Museum, Hanover, Germany
Highlights: The Collection of the Fondation Cartier, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
Reshaped Reality: 50 Years of Hyperrealistic Sculpture, ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Denmark
NGV Triennale, NGV Trennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia
Pulsanti Aperietur, Abdulmeid Mansion, Istanbul, Turkey
2016
No Man is an Island – The Satanic Verses, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark
Embracing the Contemporary: The Keith L. and Katherine Sachs Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Masterworks from the Hirshhon Collection, Hirshhon Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, WA, D.C., USA
Human Scale, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Flesh, York Art Gallery, York, UK
An Imagined Museum. Works from the Centre Pompidou, Tate and MMK collections, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany
Reshaped Reality. 50 Years of Hyperrealistic Sculpture, Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain (Travelling Exhibition)
Reshaped Reality. 50 Years of Hyperrealistic Sculpture, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Mexico (Travelling Exhibition)
Fondation Cartier Collection, Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France (Travelling Exhibition)
The Others, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2015
Arts & Foods: Rituals Since 1851, Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy
Guess What? Hardcore Contemporary Art's Truly a World Treasure. Selected Works from Yageo Foundation Collection, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan (Travelling Exhibition)
Mother of the Year. Between Empowerment and Crisis: Images of Motherhood from 1900 to Today, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria
A Secret Affair, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY, USA
2014
In the Flesh, National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
Lens-Based Sculpture. The Transformation of Sculpture through Photography, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein (Travelling Exhibition)
A Secret Affair: Selections from the Fuhrman Family Collection, The Contemporary Austin, Austin, TX, USA
Vivid Memories, Foundation Cartier pou l'Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Lens-Based Sculpture. The Transformation of Sculpture through Photography, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany (Travelling Exhibition)
Guess What? Hardcore Contemporary Art's Truly a World Treasure. Selected Works from Yageo Foundation Collection, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan (Travelling Exhibition)
Guess What? Hardcore Contemporary Art's Truly a World Treasure. Selected Works from Yageo Foundation Collection, Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan (Travelling Exhibition)
Guess What? Hardcore Contemporary Art's Truly a World Treasure. Selected Works from Yageo Foundation Collection, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Nagoya, Japan (Travelling Exhibition)
2013
Masculine / Masculine. The Nude Man in Art from 1800 to the Present Day, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France
Divine Bodies, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Let Go of Uncertainty, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK
Lifelike, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA, USA (Travelling Exhibition)
2012
Lifelike, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA, USA
The Sculpture Show, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland
Presence: The Art of Portrait Sculpture, The Holbourne Museum, Bath, UK
Through the Looking Glass, ME Collectors Room, Berlin, Germany
The Naked Man, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Linz, Austria
2011
Nothing in the World But Youth, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK
Memories of the Future, The Olbricht Collection, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France
Dangerously Young. Child in Danger, Child as Danger, Museum Dr. Guislain, Ghent, Belgium
Double Vision, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Australia
2010
EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES, Belsay Hall, Northumbria, UK
Real Life: Ron Mueck and Guy Ben-Ner, MacKenzie Gallery, Regina, Canada (Travelling Exhibition)
Disquieted, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR, USA
Size Does Matter, FLAG Art Foundation New York, NY, USA
Real Life: Ron Mueck and Guy Ben-Ner, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Canada (Travelling Exhibition)
Lebenslust und Totentanz, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, Austria
2009
Real Life: Ron Mueck and Guy Ben-Ner, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada (Travelling Exhibition)
Real Life: Ron Mueck and Guy Ben-Ner, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (Travelling Exhibition)
The Sense of Touch, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
2008
Bizarre Perfection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
Statuephilia, British Museum, London, UK
Attention to Detail, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY, USA
Real Life: Ron Mueck and Guy Ben-Ner, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada (Travelling Exhibition)
2007
All the More Real: Portrayals of Intimacy and Empathy, Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York, NY, USA
Den Haag Sculptuur 2007 De Overkant/ Down Under, Den Haag Sculptuur, The Hague, Netherlands
Rockers Island - Olbricht Collection, Museum Folkwang Essen, Essen, Germany
Six Feet Under: Autopsy of Our Relations, Deutsches Hygiene Museum, Desden, Germany
Out of the Box And In The Garman Ryan Collection, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK
2006
Best in Show: Dogs in Art from the Renaissance to the Present, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT, USA
Slow Tech, MoCA Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan
Collection of the Foundation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Melancholie - Genie and Wahnsinn in der Kunst, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany (Travelling Exhibition)
Figures in the Field - Figurative Sculpture and Abstract Painting from Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Eretica, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Palermo, Italy
2005
Genie et Folie en Occident: Une Histoire de la Melancolie, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, France (Travelling Exhibition)
Soul, PMML Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Oostende, Belgium
In Limbo, Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, Denver, CO, USA
Getting Emotional, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston, MA, USA
2004
Bodily Space: New Obsessions in Figurative Sculpture, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Noah's Ark, National Gallery of Canada- Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa, Canada
2003
Silver Dreams, Screens & Theories, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, Canada
The Body Transformed, National Gallery of Canada - Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Rotunda: County Hall, The Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Child in time, Gemeentemuseum Helmond, Helmond, Netherlands
Works from the Collection, The Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2002
Heavenly Creatures: Paula Rego and Ron Mueck, The British School, Rome, Italy
A Perspective on Contemporary Art: Continuity and Departure, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA (Travelling Exhibition)
Startkapital, K21 Kunstammlung, Dusseldorf, Germany
A Perspective on Contemporary Art - Continuity/Transgression, NMWA The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan
Manifeste, oder: Ergriffenheit - Was ist das?, Galerie Daniel Blau, Munich, Germany
2001
Plateau of Humankind, 49th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Naked Since 1950, C&M Arts, New York, NY, USA
The Passions: From Brueghel To Viola, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2000
Ant Noises, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Crusaid, Vinopolis, London, UK
The Mind Zone, Millennium Dome, London, UK
Extra Ordinary, James Cohen Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1999
Sensation: Young British Artists, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY, USA
Unsichere Grenzen, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
Spaced Out: Late 1990s Works from the Vicki and Kent Logan Collection, California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco, CA, USA
House of Sculpture, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
Heaven, Tate Gallery Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
1998
Sensation: Young British Artists, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
1997
Sensation: Young British Artists, London Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
1996
Spellbound: Art and Film, The Hayward Gallery, London, UK
Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Canada
National Gallery of Canada
Denmark
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus
France
Fondation Cartier, Paris
Germany
Bayerische Staatsgemaeldesammlungen, Museum Brandhorst, Munich
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldor
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Netherlands
LAM museum, Lisse
Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar
ZAMU, Amsterdam
Japan
Towada Arts Centre, Japan
New Zealand
Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand
UK
Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
Tate
USA
The Broad, Los Angeles, CA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA