Vik Muniz American Born in Brazil 1961 Vik

Vik Muniz American Born in Brazil, 1961

• Vik Muniz’ untitled photographic image, printed on a porcelain plate, is an adaptation of Caravaggio’s Medusa (painted 1590), a mythological figure from the ancient Mediterranean world whose frightening demeanor symbolized both repulsion and protection. Muniz has gained a reputation for appropriating photographic reproductions and transforming the familiar into what he terms “photographic delusions” or hybrids. He alters the original image by applying unconventional, often edible materials such as sugar, dirt, thread and chocolate syrup to the work and then re-photographs it. In this case, he extracts a powerful image rooted in mythology and art history and renders it in pasta and sauce to displace meaning and stimulate new interpretations. • http: //www. ackland. org/art/exhibitions/eyeinthesky/muniz. html

Vik Muniz Valentine, The Fastest. From "The Sugar Children Series. " 1996. Gelatin-silver print. 20 x 16".

Vik Muniz Toy Soldier (Monads), (detail) 2003 Chromogenic print

• Muniz questions the nature and traditions of visual representation by ingeniously using unlikely materials to "draw" the subjects of his conventional gelatin-silver prints. He begins by making a Polaroid photograph. Using the Polaroid as a reference, he draws its subject in chocolate syrup, dirt, or sugar, and photographs the result. His "Sugar Children" series consists of photographs of drawings he made in sugar of children whose parents and grandparents have worked on the sugar plantation on the island of Saint Kitts. • http: //www. moma. org/exhibitions/1997/newphoto 13/muniz. html