Peachy the Magazine September 2013 | Page 25

ART + Architecture

Vik Muniz. Brazilian. Born 1961. The Birth of Venus, after Botticelli (Pictures of Junk). 2008. Digital chromogenic print. Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins Gallery, New York City. Art © Vik Muniz / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. sculpture destination in and of itself.  Thomas’ impressive first curatorial foray at the Mint, Vantage Point X/Vik Muniz: Garbage Matters, consisted of seven large-scale photographs accompanied by comparative images of the historical works upon which they were based. It included The Birth of Venus, after Botticelli (Pictures of Junk), 2008.   The Brazilian born artist mused about using detritus as a sort of medium, “The beautiful thing about garbage is that it’s negative; it’s something that you don’t use anymore; it’s what you don’t want to see. So if you are a visual artist, it becomes a very interesting material to work with because it’s the most nonvisual of materials. You are working with something that you usually try to hide.” Muniz often uses unconventional materials in his work, including dirt, wire and chocolate, and he explores various tropes of modern society by juxtaposing contrary images in his photographs. While his works literally depict the materials out of which they are constructed, in this instance garbage, they
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