“The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia unveils a major retrospective of photographs by celebrated contemporary artist Vik Muniz. Vik Muniz: Photography and the Rebirth of Wonder explores the full breadth of the imaginative artist’s career with more than 100 photographs, including many of Muniz’s most recent works. 

Born in 1961 in São Paulo, Brazil, Muniz is widely recognized as one of the most innovative and creative artists working today. He creates what he calls “photographic delusions” that playfully investigate visual memory and human perception. Muniz’s works begin as sculptural assemblages made from an array of unconventional materials like chocolate syrup, tomato sauce, magazine clippings, dust, trash and diamonds. He then records these creations in sharp detail with a camera. The resulting photographic images often resemble familiar scenes from pop culture or masterpieces from the history of art while drawing attention to our own process of decoding visual information. His recent work utilizes electron microscopes, lasers and manipulated microorganisms to unveil both the familiar and the strange in spaces that are typically inaccessible to the human eye.” — Chrysler Museum of Art 

“Muniz has devoted his creative energies to playfully questioning what our eyes take for granted,” said Seth Feman, Ph.D, Curator of Exhibitions and Curator of Photography at the Chrysler. “The inviting and accessible works meditate on human perception and optics, helping us think about how we see, how we remember and how we’ve come to trust our eyes.”

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961). Action Photo after Hans Namuth, from the series Pictures of Chocolate, 1998. Cibachrome print, 61 x 49.2 x 1.9 inches © Vik Muniz and the estate of Hans Namuth, VAGA

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961). Marlene Dietrich, from the series Pictures of Diamonds, 2004. Digital C print, 65.2 x 51.6 x 1.9 inches © Vik Muniz/Galerie Xippas, Paris

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961). Mahana No Atua (Day of the Gods), after Gauguin, from the series Pictures of Pigment, 2005. Chromogenic print, exhibition,  74.6 x 95.6 x 2.3 inches © Vik Muniz

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961). Valentine, The Fastest, from the series Sugar Children, 1996. Gelatin silver print, 22 x 19.3 x 1 inches © Vik Muniz

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961). Jerusalem, from the series Postcards from Nowhere, 2015. Digital C print, 74.6 x 111 x 2.3 inches © Vik Muniz

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961). Double Mona Lisa (Peanut butter and Jelly), from the series After Warhol, 1999. Digital C Print,  49.6 x 61.4 x 1.9 inches © Vik Muniz/Galerie Xippas, Paris

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961). A Bar at the Folies-Bergère after Edouard Manet, from the series Pictures of Magazines 2, 2012. Digital C print,  71 x 98.1 x 2 inches © Vik Muniz/Ben Brown Fine Arts, London

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961). Toy Soldier, from the series Monads, 2003. Digital chromogenic print,  92 x 72 inches © Vik Muniz/Galerie Xippas, Paris

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961). Marat (Sebastião,) from the series Pictures of Garbage, 2008-11. Digital chromogenic print, 30 x 24 inches © Vik Muniz/Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961). Sandcastle #10, from the series Sandcastles, 2014. Digital chromogenic print, 71 x 86.9 inches © Vik Muniz/Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Vik Muniz: Photography and the Rebirth of Wonder is co-organized by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis/New York City/Paris/Lausanne, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. It is curated by Arthur Ollman of the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography.

Images courtesy Chrysler Museum of Art.