For more than twenty years, Jean-Luc Moulène has developed a complex body of work, both analytical and mysterious, of which photography has long constituted the most visible and best-known part. From the Disjunctions—a series of seemingly banal, frequently urban images that function as indeterminate topographical references at the heart of the real world—to the celebrated Objets de grève (‘Strike objects’: product shots of industrial artefacts made by striking workers, subverting the tools of their trade), Moulène’s photographs are strikingly raw, cruel and uncompromising, but always secretly metaphorical.

Drawings and sculptural objects have always played a part in his work, but both have assumed greater importance in recent years, superseding photography to become the chief component of Moulène’s most recent, large-scale exhibitions, though the essential spirit driving his distinctive oeuvre remains unchanged. Moulène’s works explore the question of representation in his chosen media, while at the same time drawing on their essential physicality and materiality to engage tirelessly with political, social and ontological issues ‘made flesh’—notably through the concept of ‘transaction’, an economically and sensitively charged term applied to the ongoing transaction between the imagination and reality.

Jean-Luc Moulène's notable solo exhibitions include the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Hobart (2023) ; Casa Sao Roque, Porto (2021) ; SculptureCenter, New York (2019); Secession, Vienna (2017); Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2016); Villa Medici, Rome (2015); Kunstverein, Hannover (2015); Beirut Art Center, Beirut (2013); Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2012); Dia:Beacon, New York (2012); Carré d’art – Musée d’art contemporain, Nîmes (2010); Centre d’art Passerelle, Brest (2008); Musée du Louvre, Paris (2005); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2005); CCA Kitakyushu (2004); Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2003); Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers (1994).

He participated to the 58^th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale (2019); Taipei Biennial (2016); Biennale Internationale Design, Saint-Etienne (2015); Sharjah Biennial (2011) and to the Sao Paulo Art Biennial (2002).

Jean-Luc Moulène was also featured in several international group shows: Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2023) ; BY ART MATTERS, Hangzhou, China (2022) ; Drawing room, London (2021); Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (2020); MAC VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine (2020); MoMa PS1, New York (2019); MAXXI Museo, Rome (2019); S.M.A.K., Ghent (2018); Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City (2018); Guggenheim Bilbao (2017); CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2017); Wiels, Brussels (2017); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2016); Punta della Dogana, Venice (2016); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2015); Aspen Art Museum (2015); Sharjah Art Foundation (2013); Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2012); CREDAC, Ivry-sur-Seine (2010); MARTA Herford Museum (2005); Museum Ludwig, Köln (2005), among others.

His works have been acquired by numerous institutions, including the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris ; MoMa, New York; Tate Modern, London; Dia Art Foundation, New York; MOCA, Los Angeles; Carré d'art, Nîmes; MACVAL, Vitry-sur-Seine; Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris; Sharjah Art Foundation; Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP), Paris; FRAC Ile de France — Le Plateau, Paris; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.