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Vik Muniz

Vik Muniz (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈvik muˈnis]; born in 1961, São Paulo, Brazil)^[1] is a Brazilian artist and photographer. Initially a sculptor, Muniz grew interested with the photographic representations of his work, eventually focusing completely on photography. Primarily working with unconventional materials, Muniz incorporates the use of tomato sauce, diamonds, magazine clippings, chocolate syrup, dust, dirt, junk in his practice to create bold, ironic and often deceiving imagery, gleaned from the pages of pop culture and art history.(Arthur Ollman, Vik Muniz) His work has been met with both commercial success and critical acclaim, and has been exhibited worldwide.

In 2010, Muniz was featured in the documentary film Waste Land, directed by Lucy Walker, which featured Muniz's work on one of the world's largest garbage dumps, Jardim Gramacho, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. The film was nominated to the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 83rd Academy Awards.^[2][3]

Early life (1961–1979)

Vik Muniz was born in 1961 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, (Muniz, Verso) as the only child of Maria Celeste, a telephone operator, and Vincente Muniz, restaurant waiter. Growing up, Muniz’s grandmother, Ana Rocha, taught him how to read at an early age. Even though he knew how to read, Muniz struggled with writing on his own, so he turned to visuals to communicate his thoughts. (Muniz, Reflex)

At the age 14, his math teacher recommended him to enter an art contest which he won and was awarded a partial scholarship at an art studio. (Muniz, Reflex)

Career (1979–?)

Early Career

At the age of 18, Muniz got his first job working in the advertising industry in Brazil, redesigning billboards for higher readability. Muniz joining his first advertising company resulted from him studying the billboards around town, and figuring out why they were not legible. He brought this up to a company that specialized in outdoor advertising, and they hired him on the spot as a consultant. (Muniz, Le Musée Imaginaire) Upon moving to the United States, Muniz states in his autobiography that his decision to move came from a “fortunate event”. 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 Chicago in 1983. Upon moving to Chicago from Brazil, Muniz worked during the day cleaning local supermarket parking lots, and went to study English at school during the night. In the English class, he learned Polish, Italian, Spanish, and Korean without any improvements to his English vocabulary. Muniz later attended culinary and carpentry classes, and this is where he learned a great deal of English. (Muniz, Le Musée Imaginaire) When living in Chicago, Muniz took his first trip to New York in 1984. There, he visited the Museum of Modern Arts and met a woman who changed his thoughts on Jackson Pollock’s paintings. This woman influenced Muniz in such a way that he moved to New York just two months after his first visit. (Muniz, Le Musée Imaginaire) Muniz's friend lent him a studio, and he started his career as a sculptor, which resulted in his first solo exhibit in 1988. (Muniz, Reflex)

Technique

Inspired by works of Man Ray and Max Ernst, Muniz executes simple imagery intricately (Xunta De Galicia). Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media inspired Muniz to explore perception in the media through abstraction and manipulating the components of the image (Muniz, Le Musée Imaginaire).

Suggested Structure aka HOW TO IMPROVE/ADD

Early life: (add more about his childhood/education)

Family

• Grand parents- Ana Rocha Married at 18 to Jose Ignaco, had a candy shop but went bankrupt. Moved in with Muniz parents.

Education

• Muniz was taught how to read by his grandmother at an early age but didn't excel at school. Even though he knew how to read, Muniz struggled with writing on his own so he turned to visuals to communicate his thoughts. At age 14, his math teacher recommended him to enter an art contest which he won and was awarded a partial scholarship at a art studio.

Works and Philosophy (renaming this section?)

Influences

• In Muniz's autobiography, he credits Marshall McLuhan’s book Understanding Media as an influence in his art work.

Criticism

*need to add more references and scan picture of his work

Sources

(Books)

Muniz, V. (2005). Reflex a Vik Muniz primer. 1st ed. England: APERTURE (NY).

Ollman, Arthur. Vik Muniz. Delmonico Books • Prestel and the Foundation For the Exhibition of Photography, 2016.

Muniz, Vik. Vik Muniz: Verso. Sikkema Jenkins & Co., 2008.

Drutt, Matthew. Vik Muniz : model pictures. The Menil Collection, Houston TX, 2002.

Muniz, V. (1998). Seeing is believing. New York: Arena Editions. (STATUS: Shipping from Charleston)

Muniz, V. (2013). The Weimar File. Madrid: Ivory Press. (STATUS: Shipping from Winthrop)

Drutt, M. (2002). Vik Muniz. Houston: Menil Collection. *(STATUS: Copy not available at this time)*

Cameron, D. and Fernández-Cid, M. (2003). Vik Muniz. [Santiago de Compostela]: Xunta de Galicia. (STATUS: Shipping from Clemson)

Muniz, V. and Mézil, É. (2011). Vik Muniz. Arles: Actes Sud. (STATUS: Shipping from USC Lancaster)

^{Lago, P. and Muniz, V. (2015). Vik Muniz - Everything so far. 1st ed. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Capivara. (STATUS: Interlibrary Loan In Progress)}

^{Lago, P. and Muniz, V. (2015). Vik Muniz - Everything so far. 2nd ed. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Capivara. (STATUS: Interlibrary Loan In Progress)}

(Articles)

Katz, Vincent, and Vik Muniz. “The Cunning Artificer: An Interview with Vik Muniz.” Vol. 1, no. 4, 1997, pp. 26–31. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24554548.

Magill, Mark, and Vik Muniz. “Vik Muniz.” no. 73, 2000, pp. 28–35. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40426115.

“Sweet Stuff: Vik Muniz Cooks up a Fresh Façade for BAM's Renovation.” Vol. 7, no. 3, 2002, pp. 18–18. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24559718.

“Vik Muniz’s Ten Ten’s Weed Necklace.” University of California Press, 2010, pp. 170–173. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt7zw124.21.

High Museum of Art. (2019). Vik Muniz. [online] Available at: https://www.high.org/exhibition/vik-muniz/.