OXFORD.- Modern Art Oxford presents a major solo exhibition of celebrated French artist Jean-Luc Moulène this month. Featuring a collection of Moulène’s works from the 1990s to the present, it will showcase the artist’s ongoing commitment to exploring the relationship between image and object through a series of glass and bronze sculptures, drawings, photographs and a new film work especially commissioned for the exhibition.

Structured as a ceremony or procession presenting several series of works from the last decade, the exhibition will also feature his celebrated monochromes painted with conventional BIC ballpoint inks: red, green, blue and black, and his extraordinary sculptural knots made from glass and bronze.

The cast bronze works are dynamic, twisted objects made by tying knots through clay, marking the interior space of a knot that is usually invisible. In contrast, the glass sculptures are tied lengths of clear blown glass: their transparent, sinuous forms describe a knot and render its structure visible throughout.

Alongside Moulène’s photographic work, manufactured objects are incorporated with drawings and prints celebrating the art of making as fundamental to human activity. The work continually highlights the artist’s interest with anthropology, material cultures of the past, mathematics and geometry.

Critically acclaimed for his documentary photography, Moulène’s first comprehensive US exhibition is currently running at Dia Art Foundation, New York. At Modern Art Oxford he explores the idea of material value and the social conditions in which images and objects are received and transformed.

“My work seeks to produce differences through re-examination of tradition and theoretical statement. This exhibition reflects my response to all types of possibilities from the last couple of decades while also examining new ideas with the film The Three Graces.”

The Three Graces, the film commissioned for the exhibition marks another transition for the artist. Referencing traditional art history, ‘The Three Graces’ originated in Greek Mythology have been depicted countless times in Classical and Renaissance periods, in sculpture, drawing and painting; Moulène transposes the subject to reflect the era of mechanized reproduction, using black and white film as his medium.

Born in 1955 in Reims, France, Jean-Luc Moulène studied Literature and Philosophy at the Sorbonne University where he was awarded his Master’s degree. He went onto train in advertising.

Moulène’s work has been exhibited widely over the past two decades. His solo exhibitions of his work have been presented at: Dia Foundation, Beacon, New York (2011-2012), Carré d’art-Musée d’art contemporain, Nîmes (2009), Culturgest, Lisbon (2007). Centre d’Art Contemporain de Genève (2003), CCA, Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu (1998, 2004), Jeu de Paume, Paris (2005), Musée du Louvre, Paris (2005) and DAAD Galerie, Berlin (1996),.

He participated in Documenta 10 (1997), XXV São Paulo Biennial (2002), 50th Venice Biennale (2003), 4th Taipei Biennial (2004), First International Biennial of the Image, Luang Prabang, Laos (2007) and 10th Sharjah Biennial (2011).

Moulène’s work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions including: Witte de With, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Rotterdam (1990, 2003), ARC / Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1991, 2000), Le Magasin, Grenoble (1995), Museum in Progress, Vienna (1996), Yokohama Museum of Art (2000), KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2001), Ottawa Art Gallery (2001), Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2002), Musée des Beaux Arts de Nantes (2002), De Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2004), Grand Palais, Paris (2006), Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2007, 2011), Kunstverein Nürnberg, Nuremberg (2010), and CAC Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge (2011).

Moulène currently lives and works in Paris.