Vik Muniz is a Brazilian plastic artist who produces works focused on sustainability. In addition to painting, he works with the production of sculptures and photography.
Currently, Vik Muniz is known worldwide for his unusual works where he uses techniques and materials such as food, cotton, recyclable materials, hair, wire, sawdust, dust, earth, among others.
Vik Muniz Biography
Vicente José de Oliveira Muniz was born in São Paulo on December 20, 1961.
He studied Advertising and Propaganda at FAAP (Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation). After that, he decided to focus on studies aimed at the production of visual works.
In the early 1980s he moved to the United States. He lived for 1 year in Chicago and then in New York, where he opened an art studio.
There, he became very well known and his works were presented in various media, including the renowned New York Times.
These publications were essential for Vik's work to be recognized in other parts of the world. From this, very renowned museums in the world contacted the artist.
This was the beginning of a successful artistic life that still prevails today. Vik has exhibited his works in several museums, which has made him increasingly renowned. They were exhibited in Brazil, United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, among others.
In addition, several museums around the world have collections with his works, for example, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Madrid, Tokyo, Moscow, etc.
Main Works and Features
With keen creativity and the use of unusual materials, Muniz produced several visual works.
Some materials used by him are: jelly, chocolate, sugar, dulce de leche, peanut butter, ketchup, gel, syrup, garbage, etc. To produce the works, he often uses an eyedropper.
Many of his works are reproductions of others already renowned, such as the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci.
Furthermore, he portrayed various figures such as Pelé, Che Guevara, Freud, Barack Obama, Elvis Presley, Seu Jorge, Pollock, among others.
Che Guevara made from beans
As he works with various perishable materials, after they are ready, Muniz photographs and sets up the dimensions of the image.
Vik published in 2005 “Reflex - Vik Muniz Primer”. The book brings together several images of the artist's work.
Here are some of his plastic works:
The Best of Life (1988 and 1990)
Sugar Children (1996)
The Sarzedo Drawings (2002)
Magazine Portraits (2003)
Landscape Project (2012)
Extraordinary Garbage
In 2010 the documentary was released Extraordinary Garbage. It portrays the artist's work with garbage collectors at the Jardim Gramacho landfill in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro.
The documentary was awarded at the Sundance Festival and at the Berlin Festival, and was nominated for the best documentary award at the 2011 Oscars.
In the artist's words:
“The idea of creating a construction from a material, whose aesthetics, by association with the meaning of garbage, is already very polluted, already impregnates everything that is not usable. You take that and make something beautiful, you are already recharging the potential of these materials with the promise of reuse. Almost everything is reusable.”
