What is the purpose of Vik Muniz art?
Sourcing a wide variety of eclectic and found materials—chocolate, jelly, toys, and trash—Muniz recreates iconic art historical works and scenes from popular culture. By displaying the final piece as a photograph, he explores memory, perception, and the nature of images as represented in arts and communication.
What art does Vik Muniz use?
In addition to his reworking of the age-old medium of photography, Muniz is noted for using a variety of eclectic and found materials such as chocolate, jelly, tomato sauce, diamonds, toys, and trash to recreate his or others’ original imagery.
How much did the artwork of Tiao sell for?
Muniz’s photograph of Tiao from his “Pictures of Garbage” series sold for $50,000 at auction.
Where is Vik Muniz now?
Vik Muniz was born in São Paulo, Brazil but currently works in both New York City and Rio de Janeiro.
Who inspired Vik Muniz?
There, he visited the Museum of Modern Art and met a woman who changed his thoughts on Jackson Pollock’s paintings. This also influenced Muniz to move to New York just two months after his first visit. Muniz’s friend lent him a studio where he started his career as a sculptor.
How did Vik Muniz become an artist?
Muniz began to discover art in the books he borrowed from his high school library. In 1997, Muniz became well-known for his Pictures of chocolate series, in which he used chocolate syrup to create his works.
How does Vik Muniz create his artwork?
Muniz’s use of garbage and junk as building materials for his compositions is particularly celebrated. To make his Pictures of Junk and Pictures of Garbage series, he placed his camera on a platform raised by a crane high above a warehouse floor.
Why do you think Vik Muniz uses appropriated images from art history in much of his work?
Vik Muniz believes that there are no new visual ideas; only “an infinite amount of variations of very good existing ones.” It is this philosophy that explains his heavy use of appropriation, the recontextualization of iconic images from the world of art and media, in conjunction with unexpected everyday materials.
Where does Vik Muniz live?
Rio de Janeiro
In 2009, after his widely acclaimed first retrospective exhibition took place at major Brazilian museums in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte, Muniz decided to take up a part-time residence in Rio de Janeiro, reconnecting with his country after having lived abroad for almost thirty years.
How does Vik Muniz make his art?
Primarily working with unconventional materials such as tomato sauce, diamonds, magazine clippings, chocolate syrup, dust, dirt, etc., Muniz creates works of art, referencing old master’s paintings and celebrity portraits, among other things, and then photographs them.
Is Vik Muniz Hispanic?
Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961) is a Contemporary visual artist who was born Vicente José de Oliveira Muniz in São Paulo, Brazil. Muniz began to discover art in the books he borrowed from his high school library.