Vik Muniz Thesis Statement

Vik Muniz takes the mundane, everyday ordinary object and transforms it into a sight that makes us stop and think, “That is the famous Leonardo Di Vinci’s “Last Supper, but it is made of…chocolate?” It is Bosco’s Chocolate, if you want to be specific.

Vik Muniz initially started out as a sculptor, and was known for his visual puns, such as his famous “Clown Skull.” He later turned his full attention to photography after taking photos of his more, “less stable” artworks.

He can make something as sticky and unruly and peanut butter and jelly and recreate the Mona Lisa. Forget about using paints, pastels, or charcoal to paint a picture. Forget about any other conventional mediums out there and resort back to everyday objects such as cotton balls and spools of thread to map out landscapes.

One of his more famous series of works is his “Sugar Children” series, a series of portraits of the children of plantation labor workers on the island of Saint Kitt’s made entirely of sugar from the plantation and black pepper. Vik Muniz is able to shape and form the sugar to create such realistic portraits of the children with beautiful definition and shading. Each portrait is titled with a characteristic of each child he learned during his time with them.

Another famous series, along with an Academy Award nominated documentary is “Pictures of Garbage,” shown in the film “Wasteland,” directed by Lucy Walker. Muniz recreates portraits he took of garbage pickers of the world’s largest landfill, Jardim Gramacho, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro into large-scale portraits completely out of recyclable materials found within the landfill. He takes a photograph of the finished product and displays the work as a photograph. In fact, he displays most his creations in the form of a photograph.

His subjects are usually those belonging to the working class, something he can personally identify with. He grew up poor in Sao Paulo and came to the United States speaking very little English. He introduces a new world to those who have never seen or known about the art world. He gains a connection and understanding for his subjects, and he is able to give back to them.

Many critics look at his work and say there is nothing special, or nothing there. They aren’t looking close enough. They see ordinary objects on a canvas. What they don’t realize is that behind every portrait is a greater story, and a sense of integrity of that person, such as those in his “Pictures of Garbage” series.

In a recent TED talk, he talks about creation and creativity. He explains that creation is something that is already there, ordinary, and might not have meaning. Creativity is what allows us to see the beauty in mundane everyday things. This is greatly reflected in his works; working with mundane, everyday objects, something that we pass by everyday with no thought, and manipulating them into classic art pieces.  Next time you see something as ordinary as spaghetti sauce, just imagine the potential possible for it to become an extraordinary masterpiece.