“A vida é um constante ato de equilíbrio entre a ilusão e a realidade”.

- Harry Houdini.

Maior retrospectiva já realizada sobre a obra de Vik Muniz, artista brasileiro de referência internacional reconhecido por investigar os limites entre imagem, matéria e percepção. A exposição reúne trabalhos tridimensionais do início de sua trajetória, séries fotográficas emblemáticas que marcaram sua produção ao longo dos anos e obras recentes, oferecendo um panorama abrangente de mais de três décadas de contribuição à arte contemporânea.

Ao articular processos, materiais e escalas distintas, a mostra evidencia a complexidade poética e conceitual de uma obra que tensiona os modos de ver, representar e compreender as imagens no mundo contemporâneo. “Vik Muniz – A olho nu” oferece uma experiência que combina impacto imediato e reflexão crítica, reafirmando o lugar do artista como um dos principais mediadores entre arte contemporânea, percepção visual e cultura compartilhada.

A visão é um dom. Embora o olho seja o veículo visionário primordial, é no cérebro que as imagens ganham significado. Enxergamos o possível de acordo com nossas afinidades, capacidades e limitações — e não necessariamente o que de fato é, ou o que os outros estão vendo ou desejam mostrar. A realidade enxergada é uma inevitável ilusão de ótica pessoal, que cada um compreende e interpreta à sua maneira.

A ilusão de ótica é um fenômeno que pode ser fisiológico, cognitivo ou literal, sendo amplamente utilizada por artistas — como no trompe l’œil, onde a visão é “confundida” de maneira engenhosa. O que vemos não é exatamente o que é, mas torna-se real a partir do momento em que o identificamos como tal. Um reconhecimento que é sempre fruto da imaginação combinado com referências adquiridas e uma aceitação daquela realidade.

Vik Muniz é um ilusionista — um mágico na construção de imagens que não existem, mas que se tornam reais. Suas obras possuem camadas que tensionam diferentes questões de cunho poético — aspectos formais e processuais — e político, abordagens e relações que estabelece com o sistema da arte.

A exposição A olho nu – Vik Muniz propõe um passeio pela produção do artista, desde suas obras tridimensionais, criadas antes do uso da câmera fotográfica, até suas séries de fotos mais conhecidas e as mais recentes. O recorte apresentado inclui esculturas, objetos e mais de uma centena de fotografias nas quais deslocamento de funções e reconfigurações de objetos do mundo estão evidentes e servem como fio condutor da seleção.

Esse conjunto aproxima a produção de Vik do universo (pop)ular, tão presente e recorrente na cultura nordestina — seja pela utilização de elementos do cotidiano, pela forma como os organiza ou pelas imagens que produz. Uma amálgama de temas, cores e materiais que pode ser observada em feiras livres, nas ruas e calçadas, nos bairros e festas populares, nas gambiarras, nos f ilmes da televisão, na liberdade das composições e na imaginativa criatividade do povo nordestino.

As obras dialogam com essas camadas do cotidiano, atravessando os espectadores por meio de um encantamento visual e um deslumbramento processual que despertam distintas interpretações cognitivas e sentimentos de afetividade e pertencimento. Trata-se, na verdade, da ativação da cosa mentale, mencionada por Marcel Duchamp — uma ideia que é formalizada por um suporte que se torna meio. No caso de Vik, os objetos do mundo e a fotografia.

Estamos vendo chocolate ou caviar? Jackson Pollock ou Che Guevara? Uma fotografia? Uma escultura de comida? Tudo que vemos se transforma e transmuta diante de nossos olhos.

Vik é um fotógrafo agricultor, um jardineiro que utiliza sementes diversas — açúcar, chocolate, caviar, diamantes, brinquedos de plástico, revistas, cartões-postais e até mesmo resíduos — que florescem em potentes imagens, re-retratando aquilo que parece já termos visto. Um déjà vu de forma e conteúdo: reconhecemos a figura retratada, assim como os materiais com os quais ela foi concebida, mas algo parece fora do lugar. Isso captura nosso olhar e ativa nossa mente. O termo “fotógrafo agricultor” foi cunhado por Jeff Wall, em contraposição à expressão “fotógrafo caçador”, designada por Ansel Adams.

O fotógrafo caçador é aquele que utiliza a câmera como uma espingarda, em busca da imagem perfeita, do momento mágico que ocorre ao seu redor — e que se estende ao fotojornalismo, à fotografia esportiva, de natureza, do cotidiano. O agricultor, por sua vez, constrói as imagens antes de executá-las — pensa, desenha, rabisca, testa, repete — e utiliza a máquina fotográfica para registrar uma composição previamente elaborada. Sem dúvida, Vik se tornou um dos principais fotógrafos agricultores da atualidade, seja por sua projeção internacional, seja pela longevidade de sua prática e pelas inúmeras séries que realizou.

Sua inspiração surgiu do avesso — da análise de fotografias feitas por outros de seus objetos tridimensionais da série Relicários (1989-2025), aqui apresentados. Ângulos errados, enquadramentos insatisfatórios e iluminações inadequadas, mas, ao mesmo tempo, transformações imagéticas provocadas pelo congelamento daquelas perspectivas, despertaram no artista a percepção das ausências e potências da linguagem fotográfica. Assim, decidiu assumir os registros de suas próprias criações — que passaram a ser as próprias obras — no avesso do avesso, dando nova torção ao seu assunto principal.

Na exposição A olho nu, exploramos seus processos e caminhos por meio de um mergulho cronológico que lança luz sobre a criação de um artista cuja genialidade está explícita na rigorosa simplicidade que orquestra ao longo de sua robusta trajetória. Vik vem construindo um panteão pictórico no qual os deslocamentos — de iconografias, materiais, técnicas, suportes e linguagens — são procedimentos centrais. Um transmutar de funções originais que torna o espectador cúmplice de um fazer artístico que nos captura como na mágica, pois conforme afirmou Houdini “a magia não reside nos truques que realizo, mas sim na capacidade de assombrar e maravilhar as pessoas”.

Um surrealismo fantástico e inventivo que coloca nossa própria realidade em xeque, sendo desafiada pela realidade poética criada pelo artista — uma poética que provoca encantamentos e questionamentos. Afinal, estamos vendo a Medusa? Ou apenas sobras de espaguete em um prato fundo? Serão as duas coisas, ou uma criação do acaso minuciosamente pensada? Para enxergarmos a poética que Vik propõe, precisamos nos despir de uma visão tradicional — e deixar nosso olho nu.

Daniel Rangel – Curador

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See It Now brings together bold, thought-provoking works from the collection of long-time Museum trustee Ann Schaffer and her husband, Mel Schaffer. For more than fifty years, the Schaffers have collected contemporary art with an adventurous spirit—following what moved them, challenged them, or sparked curiosity, rather than market trends.

Their collection includes a wide range of artists and approaches, from inventive installations and unexpected materials to intimate portraits and conceptual works. Across these differences runs a shared thread: each piece reflects a personal story or perspective on what it means to be human. Some works are playful, others unsettling, but all encourage us to look closely and engage with the complexity of our world.

Sikkema Malloy Jenkins is pleased to present Brushstrokes, a solo exhibition by Vik Muniz, on view from May 14 through June 20, 2026. A public reception with the artist will be held on Thursday, May 14 from 6–8pm.

Vik Muniz is globally renowned for his unique series recreating popular and art historical imagery, composed from unorthodox source materials—chocolate, sugar, scraps of paper, and junk, among a variety of unexpected media. His practice engages the act of looking as a space of physical and symbolic experience, where the presumption of an artwork’s objective nature can be thrillingly destabilized. In Brushstrokes, Muniz presents a vibrant homage to the groundbreaking pictorial language of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters. The images in this series were created from distinct strokes of paint that are photographed, cut out, and arranged into compositions after artists such as Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Joaquín Sorolla, and Vincent van Gogh. Their work offered a new way of seeing the world, realized through a sensorial expression of color, medium, and light. Drawing upon this history, Muniz embraces the ambiguities of material (re)creation as a source of visual experimentation and discovery.

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Xippas Gallery
Rue des Sablons 6 & Rue des Bains 61, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland


Xippas Geneva is pleased to present Handmade, a solo exhibition by the Brazilian artist Vik Muniz.

The “handmade” works, as the title of the exhibition suggests, are the result of a hybrid process combining manual, or artisanal treatment – namely painting or collage – and high-resolution digital photography. The results are complex compositions, combining different techniques, making each work unique. Paper and cardboard are painted, cut out and superimposed on a surface, before being photographed in order to allow for manipulation, rearranging and further photographing, and so on. By creating different planes which reveal underlying elements and their photographs, Vik Muniz invents real trompe-l’œil where the objects and their photographic representations are interlinked in a visual game.

Inviting the spectator on a quest to distinguish between the object and its image, the artist pursues his research on the mechanisms of perception, a common thread throughout his work. Unlike the previous series, where images from the history of art or from collective memory were interpreted with unusual, but also daily, materials, Handmade attests to the recourse to artistic materials such as paper, cardboard or metal. Hence, this series refers to the fundamental principles of abstract art: color, form, and rhythm are used as the main components of the composition.

The works in this series, akin to geometric abstraction or Cubist paintings, play on volume and movement, transcending the two dimensions of the photographic image both symbolically and literally, in order to reconnect with its materiality. The artist, therefore, experiments with photographic media to create compositions in three dimensions, where the layers of paint, shapes cut out in the metal, and the shadows duplicate each other and overlap, merging with their images. Like bas-reliefs, these volume works contain a simulation, hovering between “truth” and illusion, between reality and its double.

The material trace of the artistic gesture which is therefore present in each piece alludes to the creation process without revealing it. On the contrary, it becomes increasingly mysterious as the eye loses itself, compelled to travel over the different planes of the image.

The construction of the image thereby invites the viewer to deconstruct it by the gaze. In this new series, Vik Muniz explores the nature of perception, playing on the dichotomy between the object and its representation, and reinventing the possibilities of the construction of the photographic image. The increasingly porous border between the object and its copy reveals the mechanism behind our ways of seeing and understanding the image. In the digital age, where images increasingly take the place of objects and their manipulation becomes an integral part of daily life, reproducibility becomes one of the legitimate principles of creation. As the artist says, “there is now hardly any difference between a piece of work and its image”. In his new series, he develops a reflection on the fleeting concept of material reality and its possible interpretations. The aim of the illusion created by Vik Muniz is therefore not simply to destabilize our perception, but to “reveal the architecture of our concept of truth”- 1

1 – Vik Muniz, Natura Pictrix. Interviews and Essays on Photography, Edgewise, New York – Paris – Turin, 2003, p. 47


Visit Xippas Gallery website here.

Xippas Gallery is pleased to present Handmade, Vik Muniz’s new solo exhibition. In this new series, Vik Muniz explores the nature of perception, playing on the dichotomy between the object and its representation, and reinventing the possibilities of the construction of the photographic image.

The “handmade” works, as the title of the exhibition suggests, are the result of a hybrid process combining manual, or artisanal treatment – namely painting or collage – and high-resolution digital photography. The results are complex compositions, each unique pieces, combining different techniques: paper and cardboard are painted, cut out and superimposed on a surface, before being photographed in order to allow for manipulation, rearranging and further photographing, and so on.

By creating different planes which reveal underlying elements and their photographs, Vik Muniz invents real trompe-l’œil where the objects and their photographic representations are interlinked in a visual game.

The works in this series, akin to geometric abstraction or Cubist paintings, play on volume and movement, transcending the two dimensions of the photographic image both symbolically and literally, in order to reconnect with its materiality. The artist, therefore, experiments with photographic media and uses the technique of printing on aluminum to create compositions in three dimensions, where the layers of paint, shapes cut out in the metal, and the shadows duplicate each other and overlap, merging with their images. Like bas-reliefs, these volume works contain a simulation, hovering between “truth” and illusion, between reality and its double.

The increasingly porous border between the object and its copy reveals the mechanism behind our ways of seeing and understanding the image. In the digital age, where images increasingly take the place of objects and their manipulation becomes an integral part of daily life, reproducibility becomes one of the legitimate principles of creation. As the artist says, “there is now hardly any difference between a piece of work and its image”. In his new series, he develops a reflection on the fleeting concept of material reality and its possible interpretations. The aim of the illusion created by Vik Muniz is therefore not simply to destabilize our perception, but to “reveal the architecture of our concept of truth”.

Galerie Xippas Paris
108 Rue Vieille du Temple,
75003 Paris,
France

Vik Muniz: Photography and the Rebirth of Wonder

Vik Muniz: Photography and the Rebirth of Wonder examines the full breadth of the imaginative artist’s career and features more than 100 photographs, including many of Muniz’s most recent works.


One of the most innovative artists working today, Muniz uses unconventional materials and photographic images that play with our process of perception. The São Paulo, Brazil native creates sculptural works from unusual materials like chocolate syrup, tomato sauce, magazine clippings, diamonds, and trash, which he then records with his camera. He calls the resulting images “photographic delusions” because they often resemble well-known images from the history of art and popular culture.


Frequently playing with scale, he has made enormous land drawings that he photographs from the air. More recently, he has created microscopic works using microorganisms and single grains of sand. In every instance, he makes the familiar seem wondrous, highlighting the extraordinary power of vision, perspective, and imagination.


This exhibition has been co-organized by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis/New York/Paris/Lausanne, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. The exhibition catalog will be available for purchase in the Museum Shop.

Chrysler Museum of Art
1 Memorial Pl
Norfolk, VA
23510


Visit the Chrysler Museum’s website here.

Vik Muniz’s Mappa del Mondo, after Alighiero Boetti (Pictures of Pigment), 2009. Courtesy of Olnick Spanu Collection, New York.

Guest Lecture: Vik Muniz
May 6, 2018 4pm

Magazzino Italian Art is pleased to announce a presentation and Q&A by internationally acclaimed Brazilian artist Vik Muniz on Sunday, May 6th, 2018 at 4 p.m. A cocktail reception with the artist will follow with a tasting of Sardinian cheeses and Italian wines.

Vik Muniz (b. 1961) will share insights into his art practice, from the beginning of his career to his most recent works, in context with Magazzino Italian Art’s current exhibition Arte Povera: From the Olnick Spanu Collection. On this occasion, the artist’s Mappa del Mondo, after Alighiero Boetti (Pictures of Pigment), 2009, part of the Olnick Spanu Collection, will be on display alongside Boetti’s Mappa, 1983. Muniz’s work will remain on view at Magazzino until Monday, June 4th, 2018.


Vik Muniz’s Mappa del Mondo, after Alighiero Boetti (Pictures of Pigment), is a chromogenic print mounted on aluminum, while Boetti’s Mappa is an embroidery handwoven by native women in Kabul, Afghanistan. In this discourse, Muniz gives the viewer the opportunity to see Boetti’s image in a different format, still aesthetically pleasing, however offering a commentary on the process of creating art itself. Muniz conceives his version by using various colorful pigments; he then photographs the work prior to destroying it, and the photograph becomes the final work.


In the book Fotografia Maledetta e Non (ed. Feltrinelli), 2015, Germano Celant states: Muniz seeks an interlocutory phase, that of a photographic image that exists for itself; a complete form that thrives from its materials’ energy and their informal articulations, which belong to the universe of the unintelligible daily life.


This event is by reservation only. RSVP here.

magazzino.art
info@magazzino.art


2700 Route 9,
Cold Spring, NY 10516

Telling a story in an intimate, covert, often encrypted way, the back of each painting is distinct: owners add their labels, exhibitions are noted, and customs stamps bear witness to the often long journeys experienced by the works. The question of what is literally behind a painting is closely linked to the question of what art really is.

The headlining artist Vik Muniz, who lives in New York and Rio de Janeiro, has dedicated himself to investigating the reverse sides, or the versos, of famous paintings, and produces three-dimensional, faithful reproductions of them. They are replicas of the most important works of art history that leave open the question of original versus copy. This intervention in the Upper Belvedere is the artist’s first major solo exhibition in Vienna. Muniz’s reproductions in his Verso series are presented together with important works from the museum’s collection. Among Muniz’s replicas are the reverse sides of da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, van Gogh’s Starry Night, Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring, Fabritius’s The Goldfinch, Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, and Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.


For this project, Gustav Klimt’s Kiss and Egon Schiele’s The Embrace, two principal works from the Belvedere, have been added to Muniz’s series of masterpieces.

To visit Museum Belvedere’s website click here.