Ghosts Of The Great Highway: The artwork of Vik Muniz.

Monday, February 9, 2009

The artwork of Vik Muniz.

Unfortunately I missed Vik Muniz's "Verso" show at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in Chelsea, but I was able to see the catalogue of the work. Not only is the concept brilliant but the execution is flawless. Muniz recreated the backs of some of the worlds most famous paintings with every detail intact right down to the yellowing of the aged labels from different museums. It includes all of the scars and travel history that one never gets to see because it is on the unseen side.

Here is a brief statement of the work:

"Whenever someone wants to see if an artwork is 'real', the first gesture is to look at its back or at it's base; the part of it that normally isn't visible to anyone else but experts, dealers, museum conservators or the artists' themselves. This happens because while the image's objective is to remain eternally the same, its support is constantly changing, telling its story, showing its scars, its labels and periodic clichés. So when a cousin of mine told me his 7-year old could paint a Picasso, I told him 'probably, but he couldn't do the back'. As a teenager, I used to fix the neighbor's TV as a hobby. I wanted to learn how to fix clocks too. Whenever something's function is basically visual, there is always an opening in the back for the curious to do it damage."

Artist website