Random Excellence: Vik Muniz

I encountered this amazing thing at the George Eastman Museum. Brazilian artist / photographer Vik Muniz, born 1961, in his series "Album," assembles pieces of snapshots into mosaics that themselves resemble snapshots. This one is called "Wedding."

Here's a detail of the groom's left hand:

The placard at the Museum noted that family photographs are "the most opaque to nonrelatives and the most susceptible to emotional enrichment." The artist cites the mosaics in a church in Ravenna, Italy among his influences.

Another interesting passage from his bio: "At the age of 18, Muniz worked in advertising in Brazil, redesigning billboards for higher readability. While on the way to his first black-tie gala, Muniz witnessed and attempted to break up a street fight, where he was accidentally shot in the leg by one of the brawlers. He was paid by the shooter to not press charges, and used the money to travel to New York." "Wedding, Album, 2014" was on loan from the artist and his gallery in New York City. Vik Muniz was born in São Paulo and now lives and works in NYC and Rio de Janeiro.

Mike

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Barry Reid: "Thanks for this. Muniz is new to me and I love the central idea here and will certainly be seeking out more of his work over the coming days."

Comments

[Rod Purcell]

Hi Mike,

Vik Muniz also produced a photo sequence of garbage workers in classical art poses, with their form picked out using the trash from a city dump. The photographs were sold at auction in London with the money going to the workers and their self help organisation. The project was filmed and is available as the DVD 'Waste Land'. Inspiring work showing how art can actually be socially useful.

The DVD is described as: Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of "catadores" -- or self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz's initial objective was to "paint" the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives.

[Cyril]

Vik Muniz was recently chosen to do the official poster for 2017 French Open (tennis):
http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/news/articles/2016-12-12/vik_muniz_the_color_of_the_clay_makes_rolandgarros_very_special.html

Contrary to the PR-inspired posters at most major sport events, the French Open ("Roland Garros") has a long history of asking contemporary artists (incl. Miró, Arman...) to design their posters.

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Yes, Vic Muniz does some captivating stuff. He has become very popular, and increasingly expensive, in the contemporary art world. These photo collages are a specialty for him, rather reminiscent of other photo collage work from the past century. I noticed that there's a Muniz piece currently on the block at the ArtNet weekly auctions. It might be a bargain if it sells in the range, as it's becoming rarer to see larger Muniz pieces go for less than six figures.

[Ned Bunnell]

Here's Vik's Instagram account if you'd like to see more of his work.

http://instagram.com/vikmuniz

[Michael Martin-Morgan]

I was looking to get my work out in galleries. I think shooting myself in the foot might not be such a bad idea after all ...

[Mark Kinsman]

Looks photo chopped.
;-)

Cool concept - in the vein of Chuck Close's painting.

[JOHN GILLOOLY]

Pretty amazing work!

[Josh]

If you're interested in Vik Muniz, please see the beautiful 2010 documentary Wasteland.

[Timo]

Perhaps slightly OT, but Muniz's actual mosaics at the newly-opened Second Avenue 72nd Street subway station in Manhattan are also terrific: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/arts/design/second-avenue-subway-art.html

[Geoffrey Heard]

Ola Mike, bem.

Cheers, Geoff

[Sergio Bartelsman]

Search for Waste Land, and the documentary behind its making.

[Schmuell]

Vik Muniz also did a TED talk in 2003: https://www.ted.com/talks/vik_muniz_makes_art_with_wire_sugar

[Brian Taylor]

I wonder whether he was aware of David Hockney's photo collage 'joiners', done in the early 80's as a way to experiment with perspective, and influenced by cubism? In this documentary he talks about them, including spending seven days, much of it up a ladder, photographing the Pear Blossom Highway, in the desert near Los Angeles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coGPeckNQZw