Vik Muniz

Vik Muniz' photographs appear to be like those of a prestidigitator or of a virtuoso whose actions at first sight are not related to photography. Working with heterogeneous materials such as sewing thread, jam, chocolate, ketchup, dust, toys, etc., which are chosen for their relationship to the image they depict, he reconstructs pictures which refer to art history, to the media and to our visual memory which has assembled them. By photographing these visual creations, Vik Muniz dissolves the original work and confronts us with an illusionary representation which is constructed artificially: Starting with the landscapes in sewing thread which take up well-known 19th century paintings, the fetish pictures of Warhol in chocolate shown for the first time in 1999 during an exhibition at the Xippas gallery, the "Pictures of Dust" made for his exhibition at the Whitney Museum, the "Pictures of Colour" and the "Pictures of Air" of the Biennale at Venice up to the pictures of diamonds and caviar from the series "Diamond Divas" and "Caviar Monsters" presented during his previous exhibition at the Xippas gallery in 2004.

For his fourth individual exhibition at the Xippas gallery, Vik Muniz is showing an ensemble of photographs which belong to the "Pictures of Pigment" series, reproducing emblematic paintings by Monet, Klimt, Matisse, Malevitch, Gauguin, Munch, Klein and Rothko. As the title indicates, Vik Muniz has this time used pigment powder. The very quality of the material necessitates a particular handling, first of all owing to the toxicity of certain colours, and secondly because the dispersing powder must be protected from draft. With the help of brushes and little spoons, the artist succeeds in precisely dropping the powder onto the surface. Once in contact with the surface, the powder can no longer be retouched. Finishing each work can take several weeks, and then every drawing, its size about 30 to 40 centimetres, is immediately photographed. The pictures are then enlarged to very big formats enabling us to perceive their voluptuous and tactile colours.

During the process of creation, Vik Muniz playfully and ironically takes up different roles, those of painter, sculptor, photographer and theoretician. Even by reinforcing our feeling of familiarity, Vik Muniz deceives us. While his work at first sight leaves us with an impression of sensuality and ambiguity, it questions the very process of visual perception. He wants us to be doubtful, critical and analytical: "Vision is first of all a form of intelligence, and recognition or identification a sort of comfort." Although his pictures appear familiar, they indeed unsettle the process of identification.

Pressetext

Vik Muniz
pictures of pigment