On the occasion of the Untitled Art Fair, Galeria Nara Roesler is delighted to showcase a solo presentation by Brazilian artist Vik Muniz.
After moving to the United States in 1983 and being able to see artworks in person, which he had previously only seen through reproductions, Muniz realised the enormous difference between having a physical interaction with the artworks and engaging with them via replicas. These two distinct ways of experiencing art have informed the artist's practice throughout his three-decade career. His work invites the spectator to explore ambiguous territories: the image versus its physical counterpart, mind versus matter, perception versus reality. According to the artist, this 'metaphysical exercise' challenges our senses and perceptions by breaking new ground through a reality that is constantly changing, forcing us to acknowledge the fragility of our certainties.
The selection offered at Untitled is uniquely focused on the matter of the natural landscape as a genre and the Muniz's recurrent experimentation with the subject. In including works that appear to be landscapes, but are in fact puzzle-like constructions made of, or crested from other images, which are manipulated to re-create the appearance of nature, the presentation also engages with the very idea of the virtual experience in attempting to reenact the physical realm. The works challenge our perception of reality and are set within a mirrored context.
The virtual booth will present works spanning from 2005 to 2020, including six different series, in a presentation that will offer the possibility to understand how Muniz has explored the aforementioned questions and concepts through a wide variety of practices. The booth will include works from iconic series such as 'Pictures of Earthworks', 'Pictures of Magazines' and 'Surfaces', whereby the artist created plays on image reproduction and scale manipulation as a means of proposing vicissitudes and ambiguities through the uprooting of visual structures. Vik Muniz's works are therefore images that must be read paradigmatically—one must understand the process of making, the material, and the final image through a retrospective gaze in order to grasp both, the meaning and purpose of Muniz' artistic proposition.
The selection will thus show the multi-faceted nature of the artist's career, highlighting the united thread which has served as the guiding core of his iconic practice, while engaging with the nature of this year's unprecedented approach to experiencing exhibitions—an experience which in fact circles back to Muniz' triggering realisation upon his first arrival to the US.
Untitled will launch on Thursday, July 30 2020 and will be accessible through Sunday, August 2 2020. Galeria Nara Roesler will also be presenting a complementing selection of works by the artist on its Online Viewing Room accessible through the gallery website.
about the artist
Vik Muniz' body of work explores the limits of representations within visual arts, twinning his production with an urge to grasp the world's current state of affairs. Using raw materials such as thorn paper, cotton, sugar, chocolate or waste, the artist meticulously composes landscapes, portraits or other depictions offering alternative representations and understandings of these materials and the images they render. According to critic and curator Luisa Duarte, 'his work demands a retrospective gaze from the public. In order to 'read' his photos, one must question and analyse the process of making, the materials used, as well as identify the original image, so as to attain the meaning of the image. Vik's work brings into play a series of questions for our 'regard' and creates a space for doubt, which is where we build our understanding.'
In tandem with his artistic practice Vik Muniz has headed social projects that rely on art and creativity to aid low-income communities in Brazil and has also produced artworks that aim to give visibility to marginalised groups in society.
Vik Muniz was born in 1961 in São Paulo. He lives and works in New York and Rio de Janeiro. Recent solo shows include: Vik Muniz, at The Sarasota Museum of Art (SMOA), Ringling College of Art and Design (2019), in Sarasota, USA; Imaginária, at Solar do Unhão, Museu de Arte Moderna de Salvador (MAM-BA) (2019), in Salvador, Brazil; Vik Muniz: Verso, at Belvedere Museum Vienna (2018), in Vienna, Áustria; Afterglow - Pictures of Ruins, at Palazzo Cini (2017), in Venice, Italy. He has featured in several biennials, such as the 56th Venice Biennale, Italy (2015); 24th Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (1998); among others. Recent group shows include: Naar Van Gogh, at Vincent van GoghHuis (2018), in Zundert, The Netherlands; Troposphere - Chinese and Brazilian Contemporary Art, at Beijing Minsheng Art Museum (2017), in Beijing, China; Look at Me!: Portraits and Other Fictions from the "la Caixa" Contemporary Art Collection, at Pera Museum (2017), in Istanbul, Turkey; Botticelli Reimagined, at Victoria & Albert Museum (2016), in London, UK. His works are included in the collections of: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Guggenheim Museum, New York, United States; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; The Tate Gallery, London, UK; among others.