Jean-Luc Moulène

Miguel Abreu Gallery is pleased to present Jean-Luc Moulène’s fifth one-person exhibition at the gallery. Comprised of 18 new works fabricated with various techniques and materials, ranging from a large scale painted cardboard sculpture to smaller cement, bone glue, glass, or bronze objects, each singular proposition – as is always the case with Moulène – constitutes an imaginative and rigorous plastic solution to a question, a riddle, or what can be described as a problem. At times abstract, at others decisively figurative, the sculptures oscillate with assertive skillfulness – and often with a seemingly effortless dose of humor – between these two basic regimes of art, as the show progresses from geometric abstractions to enigmatic incarnations. With this dazzling menagerie of unique objects, Moulène demonstrates once again that a contemporary artwork is at best the sensitive embodiment of an idea, which in itself is an attempt at both materialization and liberation through the attainment of a new form. There are clearly no masterpieces emanating from Moulène’s practice, only ‘closed worlds ’ whose specific contours have been carefully searched for and obtained, after which there can be no compelling reason to repeat the effort. His long-established ability to generate the next idea in pursuit of the next work might be the living proof of his artistic brilliance. It certainly calls to mind the adequacy of his work as exemplary of what can be achieved today in art. Jean-Luc Moulène (b. 1955, Reims, France) studied Aesthetics and Sciences of Art at the Sorbonne University in Paris. He lives and works in Saint Langis-lès-Mortagne. Among the institutions that have dedicated solo exhibitions to his work are MONA – Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania (2023–24); Casa São Roque Centro de Arte, Porto (2021); SculptureCenter, New York (2019); Secession, Vienna (2017); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016-2017); Villa Medici, Rome (2015); Kunstverein Hannover (2014); Dia:Beacon, New York (2012); Carré d’art-Musée d’art contemporain, Nîmes (2009); Culturgest, Lisbon (2007); Musée du Louvre, Paris (2005); and Centre d’Art Contemporain de Genève (2003). Moulène has participated in the Venice Biennial (2019, 2003; the Taipei Biennial (2016, 2004); the Sharjah Biennial (2010); the First International Biennial of the Image (Laos, 2007); the Sao Paulo Biennial (2002); and Documenta X (1997). His work has been included in major group exhibitions at MoMA PS1 (New York); Centre de la photographie, Genève; Miejski Osrodek Sztuki (Gorzów, Poland), S.M.A.K. (Ghent, Belgium); MMOMA (Moscow); Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (Mexico City); Museo Tamayo (Mexico City); Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Palais de Tokyo (Paris); Punta Della Dogana & Palazzo Grassi (Venice); Wiels Contemporary Art Centre (Brussels); Witte de With (Rotterdam); ARC / Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Grey Art Gallery (New York); Yokohama Museum of Art; Triennale de Milano; KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin); Museum Ludwig (Cologne); De Appel (Amsterdam); Grand Palais (Paris); Kunstverein Nürnberg, and elsewhere. Moulène’s work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York); Tate (London); Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles); Dia Art Foundation (New York); Walker Art Center (Minneapolis); Serralves Museum (Porto); Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris; Tel Aviv Museum of Art; Pinault Collection; Centre National des Arts Plastiques (Paris), among others. Monographs dedicated to his work include Jean-Luc Moulène and Teams (MONA – Museum of Old and New Art, 2023), Breves (Secession/Revolver Press, 2017), Jean-Luc Moulène (Centre Pompidou/Editions Dilecta, 2016), Jean-Luc Moulène: Documents, 1999-2016 (Sequence Press, 2016), Jean-Luc Moulène: Disjonctions, Opus & Documents, Il Était Une Fois (Verlag Für Moderne Kunst, 2015), Opus + One (Yale University Press and Dia Art Foundation, 2012), Jean-Luc Moulène (Walther König, 2009). Other books on his work include Matter and Form: Self- evidence and Surprise: On Jean-Luc Moulène's Objects by Alain Badiou (Sequence Press, 2019), “Untitled,” in Collapse vol. VIII, edited by Robin Mackay, (Urbanomic, 2014), and Torture Concrete: Jean-Luc Moulène and the Protocol of Abstraction by Reza Negarestani (Sequence Press, 2014). Moulène’s recent solo exhibitions include Enlightenments, Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples (2024); Jean-Luc Moulène and Teams, MONA – Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania (2023–24); Le point le puits le plein et la pluie, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris (2023); Clearly, Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York (2022); and Técnico Libertário, Casa São Roque Centro de Arte, Porto, Portugal (2021–22).

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