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Vik Muniz and the Photography of Photography

For over two decades, artist Vik Muniz has meticulously arranged and photographed things to look like other things: portraits in dripped chocolate, monsters out of caviar, and “paintings” from warehouses full of junk. His latest works, on view at Sikkema Jenkins Gallery right now, take on photography WITH photography.

Each work is a photograph taken of an arrangement of hundreds of other photographs that represent a photograph… and they are huge. Below, find full images and “details” of four works in the show.

Vik, 2 Years Old, Album, 2014

Vik, 2 Years Old, Album, 2014, 99.5 x 71 inches

Muniz used found personal photographs, arranging them not only by “correct shade of grey” but by subject matter, connecting, and filling fragments of memories with more memories: notice the bicycles in the car, the beach images around the sunbather, or the cheesy “western portraits” filling the pony. Like our own photographs, each image triggers a hundred other memories.

And they are MASSIVE. The image of the baby (a self-portrait at age 2) is over 8 feet tall! To give you a better idea, I digitally inserted a ruler in a few of the detail shots for scale.

New Car, Album, 2014

New Car, Album, 2014, 71 x 105.75 inches

New Car, Album, 2014 (detail with ruler for scale)

New Car, Album, 2014 (detail with ruler for scale)

The back side of old photographs are also used. Words and dates add touches of “ballpoint blue” at graffiti tag scale.

Sunbathing, Album, 2014

Sunbathing, Album, 2014, 71 x 104.125 inches

Sunbathing, Album, 2014 (detail)

Sunbathing, Album, 2014 (detail)

Boy with Pony, Album, 2014

Boy with Pony, Album, 2014, 89.5 x 71 inches

Boy with Pony, Album, 2014 (detail with ruler for scale)

Boy with Pony, Album, 2014 (detail with ruler for scale)

See the works in person (as close as you can). I also recommend spending an entire afternoon clicking through the different years and series of work on Vik Muniz’s website to find photographs of string, puzzles, diamonds, dust (and the aforementioned materials above). It’s all amazing.

What: Vik Muniz: Album
Where: Sikkema Jenkins Gallery, 530 West 22nd St, New York
When: April 10 – May 10, 2014

All images courtesy Sikkema Jenkins Gallery, New York.

David Behringer visits over 200 galleries every month to uncover and share the most exciting contemporary art in New York today. Subscribe to his exclusive weekly newsletter at www.thetwopercent.com and learn about his private gallery tours. And be sure to check out his YouTube.