I have probably seen more exhibitions of Vik Muniz' work than any other artist's. Dude is super prolific, draws a crowd, and shows everywhere. So when I happened upon photos of his live/work space, I expected all kinds of schizophrenic mania going on in there, but it's really just... a home. I'm curious as to what you all will think of it after taking a look at his art.
Spaghetti Medusa
Ultimately Muniz is a photographer, but he was trained as a sculptor and it shows in his choices of unique materials. Who ever would have thought that spaghetti could be a high art medium?
Prisons, after Piranesi
For this series, Muniz used thread strung between pins to recreate the etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Hours of painstaking work resulted in a series of photographic recordings of the thread drawings.
Chocolate Syrup Drawings
Muniz is probably most famous for his chocolate syrup drawings that recreate a number of famous paintings such as The Last Supper -- which is huge and amazing. Like any good artist, though, he'll also do a portrait of your kids.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Mona Lisa
This one just makes me hungry!
Muniz was a visiting artist when I was in school, so I had the opportunity to meet him, and I have to say he was just as quirky as you can imagine. His vast enthusiasm for art itself and not any one particular medium was pretty inspiring. Plus, he makes a lot of work out of sugary goodness, and that is always worthy of respect, right?
So, moving on to the home he shares with his artist wife Janaina Tschape and their daughter Mina:
So, you know -- it's cute. Kind of rustic but colorful, and very homey. I think maybe I was expecting to see giant murals made of spaghetti sauce all over the walls, but perhaps that would have been a bit much. Perhaps. One thing I can say, though, is that he has amazing taste in art:
The images above the kitchen area are by one of my all time favorite photographers, Seydou Keita:
I wish I could have seen inside his house. I bet it was full of magical awesomeness.
