Vik Muniz
dal 30/3/2004 al 13/6/2004
Segnalato da
30/3/2004
Vik Muniz
Irish Museum of Modern Art - IMMA, Dublin
Muniz's pictures are illusions that draw on the language of visual culture, but twist and redefine our perception of both the commonplace and the fantastic. Employing both a humorous and critical approach he challenges our ability to discern fact from fiction and reality from illusion.
This exhibition comprises over 50 photographs by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, which are shown in a number of series, including Pictures of Wire, Pictures of Chocolate, The Sugar Children and Pictures of Dust. Muniz’s pictures are illusions that draw on the language of visual culture, but twist and redefine our perception of both the commonplace and the fantastic. Employing both a humorous and critical approach he challenges our ability to discern fact from fiction and reality from illusion. Working with materials such as tomato sauce, sugar, chocolate syrup and soil, and taking his influence from such varied sources as optical illusions, photorealist paintings and real-life visual absurdities, Muniz first creates an image, then sculpts it, and finally creates a photograph of the object he has produced. By attaching round noses to a human skull or drawing The Last Supper with chocolate syrup, Muniz flouts artistic convention, good taste and high art seriousness. A portrait, a landscape, an iconic historical image - Muniz’s pictures are never quite what they seem, challenging the viewer to rethink images and their meanings by taking a second glance.
Vik Muniz was born in 1961 in São Paulo, Brazil, and currently lives and works in New York. He has exhibited extensively, including one-person shows in the International Centre of Photography, New York; Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco; Galeri Lars Bohman, Stockholm, and the Galeria Camargo Vilaça, São Paulo. His work has been included in many group exhibitions, at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City; the Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janerio, and many other prestigious venues.
In the image: 'Vik', 2003.
Curated by Enrique Juncosa, Director, IMMA, it is a touring exhibition being shown first in CGAC in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, then at IMMA and finally at two other venues in Spain.
A publication, with essays by Miguel Fernandez-Cid, Director of CGAC, and Dan Cameron, Director of the New Museum of New York, accompanies the exhibition.
Irish Museum of Modern Art
Royal Hospital Military Road Kilmainham 8, Dublin
tel 353 1 612 9900