Ron Mueck: Encounter

Overview

Internationally celebrated sculptor Ron Mueck returns to Sydney this summer with his most significant Australian exhibition in over a decade. Ron Mueck: Encounter — exclusive to the Art Gallery of NSW — brings together nearly one-third of the Melbourne-born artist's oeuvre from his three-decade career, sourced from major public and private collections around the globe. Most of the works have never been shown publicly in Australia, making this the country's largest and most comprehensive survey of Mueck's visionary practice to date.

Since reshaping the language of figurative sculpture in the late 1990s, Mueck has captivated audiences worldwide with his hyperreal, meticulously crafted figures and bold shifts in scale. His sculptures chart intimate psychological terrain — moments of vulnerability, connection, alienation and observation — distilled into forms that feel at once familiar and otherworldly. In Encounter, these works — often of surprising scale — invite us to examine our relationship with the world and with one another.

Ron Mueck 'Woman with Sticks' 2009–10, mixed media, 170 × 183 × 120 cm, Collection Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, acquired 2013 © Ron Mueck, photo: Gautier Deblonde

The exhibition's centrepiece is 'Havoc 2025', a monumental new installation created especially for Sydney and unveiled at AGNSW for the first time. This immersive work places the viewer in a tense, cinematic stand-off between two packs of colossal dogs, their muscular stillness charged with unsettling intensity. Part sculpture, part psychological tableau, 'Havoc' is a larger-than-life reflection of our current moment, while showcasing Mueck's unmatched ability to fuse technical precision with visceral impact.

Together, these works create a rare opportunity to experience Mueck's world up close — and a must-see for fans of contemporary art.

Installation view of the 'Ron Mueck: Encounter' exhibition, featuring 'Havoc' 2025, courtesy the artist © Ron Mueck, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Anna Kucera

Top image: Installation view of the 'Ron Mueck: Encounter' exhibition, featuring 'Couple Under an Umbrella' 2013/2015, Giverny Capital Collection © Ron Mueck, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Felicity Jenkins.