Vik Muniz

 

Vik Muniz was born in 1961 in São Paulo, Brazil. He studied advertising at the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation and moved to New York in 1983. He works between New York and Rio de Janeiro, he is a photographer and multimedia artist specially recognized for his elaborate collages and for creating adaptations of canonical artworks or popular culture scenes from unusual materials. To create his works, he collects and reuses eclectic objects of everyday life, from images of magazines and coloured pigments, to rubbish, toys, or perishable materials such as chocolate, peanut butter, sugar, ketchup. The final work is presented as a photographic reproduction of this composition of elements. His work raises reflections on the impact of waste on contemporary societies, the accessibility of art, or the nature of the photographic image. 

His work has been exhibited in numerous museums, such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, or the Tate Modern in London. He has been dedicated an important solo exhibition organized by the Miami Art Museum, touring through the Seattle Art Museum, PS1 Contemporary Art Museum in New York, among others. The book Reflex - A Vik Muniz Primer, published in 2005 by the Aperture Foundation, brings together a commented compilation of his work. His work is represented in museum collections such as Tate Modern; Victoria & Albert Museum; Getty Institute Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art São Paulo; Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art; or Museum of Modern Art New York.

Muniz is involved in several artistic and pedagogical projects in solidarity with the aim of contributing to the improvement of society and combating poverty and exclusion, especially in Brazil. He has also collaborated with "collectors", individuals who collect reusable materials in dumps in Brazil, namely for the Pictures of Garbage project (2008) , in Rio de Janeiro. The award-winning documentary Waste Land, directed by Lucy Walker in 2010, portrays this process. He was nominated UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 2011 for his contribution to education and social development.

CB, janeiro 2021