Exhibition Vik Muniz: Reflex
October 4, 2007 to January 6, 2008

Montréal, July 20, 2007. Peanut butter and jam, chocolate, sugar, wire, dirt and diamonds are just a few of the astonishing range of materials used by this artist to make images that he then preserves through photographs. The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal presents Vik Muniz: Reflex from October 4, 2007 to January 6, 2008.

Since the early 1990s, Brazilian artist Vik Muniz has earned an international reputation for the photographic pieces he creates out of everyday materials. These images, inspired by current events, art history or famous figures, are familiar yet enigmatic. Initially seen as witty visual statements, his works question the way visual information is constructed, presented and then perceived by the viewer.

The exhibition contains 110 photographs, from 1988 to the present, from 27 series, including Best of Life (1988-1990): well-known images from Life magazine drawn from memory; Pictures of Thread (1995-1999): reproductions of famous landscapes by Corot, Constable, Ruisdael and others, created out of thread; Sugar Children (1996): portraits of children of Caribbean sugar cane workers drawn in sugar; Pictures of Chocolate (1997-2001): re-creations, in chocolate syrup, of well-known images such as Hans Namuth’s portrait of Jackson Pollock working on a drip painting; Pictures of Magazines (2003-2004): portraits of acquaintances of the artist and famous artworks made with circular pieces of paper punched from magazines; Monads (2003): well-known photographs, mainly of children, created from plastic toy figures; and Pictures of Diamonds (2004): celebrities from Hollywood’s “golden age” portrayed in glittering jewels. The results are powerful, captivating and disturbing.

Vik Muniz was born in 1961 in São Paolo, Brazil. He attended art classes in high school but did not go on to college. Instead, he plunged into the world of advertising, which left him with a lingering interest in the power and influence of images. Since 1989, Muniz has exhibited widely, with solo exhibitions in New York, São Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, Houston, Santiago de Compostela, Rome, Madrid and Dublin. In 2001, he represented Brazil at the 49th Venice Biennale. He now divides his time between Rio de Janeiro and New York.

Vik Muniz: Reflex was organized by the Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida, with support from Miami Museum's Annual Exhibition Fund. Additional support provided by Duggal Visual Solutions. This will be the exhibition’s only stop in Canada.

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Source and information:                                           
Danielle Legentil                                                       
Media Relations Officer                                            
Tel.: (514) 847-6232                                                 
E-mail: danielle.legentil@macm.org