Boy (1999) will be exhibited alongside two of Mueck’s captivating sculptures: A Girl (2006), a 5m long, intricately detailed sculpture of a newborn baby, and Woman with Shopping (2013), a smaller than life-size contemporary take on the timeless subject of the mother and child.  

"Ron Mueck’s Boy has become an icon in the ARoS Collection, and the startling sculpture continues to evoke emotions among both new and returning visitors. It has long been a desire for us to present a Ron Mueck exhibition, so I am extremely pleased that we can now showcase Boy as part of a trio of sculptures, and thus celebrate Mueck’s prominence in our collection,” says Museum Director Rebecca Matthews. 

Childhood, adolescence, and adulthood 

The subject of the child and new life is one that Mueck has returned to often. Through altering scale, Mueck creates an appearance of life that holds our attention. The tenderness of these psychologically charged works invites us to contemplate our shared humanity and confronts our relationship to the body, to time, and to existence. 

Ron Mueck – Art and Life will invite visitors to consider the human body anew and to reflect on the poignant themes of the trauma and miracle of birth, the overwhelming feeling of motherhood and responsibility for another life, and the physical and psychological vulnerability of the individual self. 

“Although I spend a lot of time on the surface, it’s the life inside I want to capture,” says Ron Mueck about his art practice.  

Ron Mueck’s sculpture Boy joined ARoS’s collection after it drew enthusiastic crowds at the Venice Biennale in 2001. Since its unveiling at ARoS display in 2004, the sculpture has played an important role in marking ARoS’s ambition to collect outstanding works of contemporary international art. 

Impressive craftmanship 

Ron Mueck (b. 1958) grew up in Australia, and lives and works on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. He has earned international acclaim for his lifelike figurative sculptures, ranging in scale from enormous to miniature. Though they are uncannily realistic, Mueck’s works are never in fact life-size. 

Mueck began his artistic career in 1996 and is considered one of the most significant sculptors of our time. A former puppeteer and model maker for film and television and an incredibly skilled craftsman, Mueck sculpts his figures by hand in clay before casting in a variety of materials, including silicone and resin. His sculptures take months, sometimes years, to create, and his oeuvre to date consists of 48 works. 

Ron Mueck – Art and Life is curated by Isabella Maidment and is on view from February 10, 2024 to January 5, 2025 at Level 6. 

A Girl and Woman with Shopping are on loan from National Galleries of Scotland and ISelf Collection, respectively. 

Press photos can be freely downloaded from Dropbox when giving due credit.

The exhibition is realized with generous support from Vilhelm Kiers Fond, C.A.C. Fonden, and Aarhus Stiftstidendes Fond,

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