Vik Muniz is the first artist to be featured in my artist spotlight. I love to give credit where credit is due and this man deserves credit for his artistic abilities. He can literally make treasure out of trash!
What initially drew me to Vik Muniz was the fact that he is Brazilian (Viva Brasil!) and the fact that he's just amazing at what he does. That's why he's just one of my favorite artists.
Vik Muniz use to work for an advertising company back in São Paulo, Brazil. While on his way to a gala, he witnessed a street fight and attempted to break it up. Muniz was shot in the leg and one of the men involved in the fight, paid him money which he used to travel to New York. This is where we came to the wonderful and spectacular Vik Muniz.
His most famous piece is Waste Land it is also a documentary of Muniz's work, it's available on Netflix if you have it and probably available on YouTube for free somehow. But this work was about the catadores (garbage pickers, recyclers) of Jardim Gramacho which is one of the site of one of the largest waste lands in the world and their strifes of life-including getting paid to pick through trash and recycle. The recycling team is comprised of people of all ages. It was also the site of Vik Muniz's most popular project. Anyway, the proceeds from the documentary were donated back to the catadores of Jardim Gramacho back in Brazil.
Aside from being a humanitarian of some sorts, Muniz has also given to us, his magical works of art, he's created pieces using diamonds, caviar, chocolate, wire, sugar, thread and even air! How do you ask? He's simply a genius who wants to create piece of nostalgia buy using materials some of us touch/use everyday.
How can you be a humanitarian and an artist at the same time? Be Vik Muniz :D. If you want to watch a trailer for Waste Land the documentary you can click here: The Waste Land Documentary Trailer and if you would like to view all of Muniz's work, you can head to: Vik Muniz Online
Below are some of my favorite pieces done by Vik Muniz.
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| This piece is called Apple Tree, After Gerhard Richter and is done using thread. (1994) |
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| This piece is called Ironing Woman (Isis) and is made out of garbage (Made during the filming of Waste Land in 2008) |
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| This piece is called Paparazzi and is made out of chocolate. (1997) |
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| This piece is called Valentina, the Fastest and is made out of sugar. (1996) |
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