Tag: vik muniz

Vik Muniz at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

Known for constructing replica of famous artworks from unlikely materials (a well-known image of Jackson Pollock rendered in drizzled chocolate, junk from a landfill arranged to resemble a Picasso painting), Vik Muniz’s latest exhibition at Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co includes new images of American icons constructed from shredded US currency.  Sourced from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the bills are arranged to picture individuals including Harriet Tubman (whose image is scheduled to appear on the $20 bill staring in 2030) and the Lakota chief American Horse as well as images seen as representing the country, like the American eagle and this bison.  Once symbolic of the vast and fertile North American landscape, informed contemporary viewers might now see bison as victims of mass slaughter by European settlers. (On view in Chelsea through April 27th).

Vik Muniz, American Bison, after John James Audubon, Legal Tender, archival inkjet print, 40 x 49 ½ , 2024.
Vik Muniz, (detail) American Bison, after John James Audubon, Legal Tender, archival inkjet print, 40 x 49 ½ , 2024.

 

 

Vik Muniz at Sikkema, Jenkins & Co

After the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro was ravaged by fire in Sept 2018, renowned Rio and NY based artist Vik Muniz reached out to offer help.  The resulting series ‘Museum of Ashes,’ now on view at Sikkema Jenkins & Co in Chelsea, mourns the loss of artifacts that range from dinosaur fossils to Egyptian artifacts by recreating images of the objects created from their own ashes.  (On view through Nov 16th).

Vik Muniz, Sarcophagus of Sha-amun-en-su, 750 BC, Museum of Ashes, archival inkjet print, 40 x 30 inches, 2019.

Vik Muniz at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Some buttons are photographed, some are real; the fun is picking out which is which. For his recent body of work, Brazilian photographer Vik Muniz creates such skilled illusions that what might be a gimmick in the hands of others instead prompts real pleasure in physically interacting with artwork up close and in person. (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co. through April 1st).

Vik Muniz, Buttons (L), Handmade, mixed media, framed: 73.375 x 49.5 inches, one of a kind, 2016.

Vik Muniz at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

In his latest series ‘Postcards from Nowhere,’ Brazilian artist Vik Muniz magnifies the thrill of getting a postcard (an experience which the Internet age may be consigning to the past) by collaging together postcards blown up to huge scale (seen here in detail). (At Chelsea’s Sikkema Jenkins & Co through May 10th).

Vik Muniz, detail from New York Postcard (Postcards from Nowhere), digital c-print, 71 x 111.5 inches, 2014.

Philadelphia Wireman at Invisible Exports

An art student discovered a cache of tiny sculptures left on the sidewalk for the trash truck; thirty years later, they’re renowned as the work of the anonymous outsider artist known as the Philadelphia Wireman.  Invisible Exports enlivens a selection of them by showing them alongside a huge Vik Muniz photo from his Pictures of Junk series.  (On the Lower East Side through July 13).