huge. intriguing. Hyperrealistic. The sculptures that Ron Mueck, famous in the world of special effects for his participation in the film The Dark Crystal or his collaboration in Labyrinth with Jim Henson, are the great (very great) protagonists of La Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain until the next November 5.
Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the surprising universe of this sculptor (capable of hyperrealism on the level of Dinos Champan or Damien Hirst) made of resin and silicone that incorporates his monumental installation Mass. From 2017, this unique mountain made up of one hundred oversized human skulls ( They are gigantic) leaves Australia for the first time to raise the viewer all reasonable doubts, or not, about his human condition.
For this new Parisian show with Cartier (already a veteran alliance, since the relationship began in 2005) Ron Mueck has also specially designed two new sculptures that reflect the recent evolution of his artistic practice. Untitled, his three huge dogs, each three meters tall, arouse all our childhood fears in a provocation as rare as expected, at least by lovers of contemporary art, who are well aware of the sculptor’s eccentric tone.
Mueck’s first strictly artistic steps had a lot to do with his mother-in-law Paula Rego, for whom he designed small figures for an exhibition that the Portuguese woman did at the Hayward Gallery in London. On that occasion Rego introduced her son-in-law Charles Saatchi, who was surprised by her sculptures to the point that the almighty began to collect them to include them.
The turning point of his career perhaps took place in the controversial exhibition “Sensation: Young British Artists from The Saatchi Collection” where his impressive Dead Dad, an almost life-size piece made of silicone and natural hair that represented the body of his deceased father, left connoisseurs (or not) in shock. Like so many of the visitors who these days pass through the headquarters of La Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris.