After nearly a decade at one of the world’s biggest galleries, the Australian sculptor
Ron Mueck is departing for new representation. Mueck and Hauser & Wirth gallery have parted ways, and is now joining the roster of Galerie
Thaddaeus Ropac, which has locations in London, Paris, and Salzburg. In October, Mueck will have a solo exhibition of work in the gallery’s London space hosted in collaboration with British dealer Anthony d’Offay, who worked with the artist before his gallery closed.
Thaddaeus Ropac said in a statement, “Ron Mueck’s virtuoso technical skill and poet’s sensibility in his communication of the human condition have seen him produce some of the most distinctive and moving contemporary sculpture of the last 25 years. We are extremely happy to be working with him.”
Mueck is known for his uncanny silicone and fiberglass human figures that defy conventional proportions. Having got his start in the film world, Mueck was brought to the fore in the art world by collector Charles Saatchi. At “Sensation,” a popular 1997 show at London’s Royal Academy which spotlighted young British artists, he presented his landmark sculpture Dead Dad, an affecting, three-foot-tall rendering of his father’s nude corpse.
Mueck has continued to make shocking sculptures in that vein throughout his career. In his first solo show in New York in 2001, at James Cohan Gallery, he presented only two works: an enormous recreation of his head, shown on its side as though it were asleep, and a sculpture of a mother and child held together by an umbilical cord. His auction record was set in 2011 when his 1996 Big Baby sold at Christie’s London for $1.32 million.
Today, his works are held in collections at the Tate Modern in London, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and National Gallery of Australia, among others. The show at Thaddaeus Ropac will be Mueck’s first major exhibition in London since 2012, and will feature new work in addition to some of his better-known pieces.