MARILYN DE SANGUE (BLOODY MARILYN)

Vik Muniz was born in Sao Paulo in Brazil in 1961, and currently resides in New York since the 1980s and work between Brazil and New York. This internationally prominent artist is famous for his use of unconventional materials, such as diamonds, garbage, chocolate, wires, spaghetti, sugar canes, etc, incorporated in his works, then transformed into enlarged photographs further enhanced the awe of visual impact. Muniz’s works are included in major public institution like the Guggenheim Founation, New York; MoMA, New York, the Foundation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Paris; Tate, London; International Center for Photography, New York. Muniz also represented the Brazilian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale back in 2001

Muniz originally worked as a sculptor; later on in the career he gradually developed deeper interests in the field of photography. As a child growing up in the autocratic ruled country, Muniz learned to express things in indirect way, and has always been interested in the media. From dictatorship to media explosion of the 80s in the States, he has found the platform for his artistic creations. Muniz has created several series based on recognizable images throughout art history and remix it with pop culture, creating another layer of visual experiences. In “The Pictures of Magazines Series,” Impressionist masterpieces like Claude Monet’s Nymphéas was reconstructed with torned magazine scraps; in “The Picture of Diamonds Series,” portraits of famous stars like Audrey Hepbur n and Elizabeth Taylor have been made into mosaic of diamonds; In the “Pictures of Chocolate Series,” Muniz recreated a photograph taken by Hans Namuth of Jackson Pollock when he was making one of his paintings. Besides the sweet and dazzling visualization of Muniz’s creations, his visions and contributions to the society ar e far greater than that.

Being a photographer, Muniz is good at delivering his unique point of view of the world. Muniz believed that art can be used to change the lives of the disadvantaged, and he had work with several NGOs. In 2010, Muniz made a series of photographic portraits of these caradores made from garbage, with references to art history, and exhibited “The Pictures of Garbage Series” to the public. The documentary film of ‘Waste Land’ was released in 2010 and received in numerous awards. The money received from the sale of those portraits was given back to the catadores to initiate changes of their lives.

Muniz is always surprising in terms of his use of visual language. Such as the current lot “Marilyn de Sangue (Bloody Marilyn”, is actually painted in syrup. It wouldn’t be the first time for Muniz undertaking new challenges in using unimaginable materials, he even worked with MIT in deriving medium from bacteria and cancer cells as the medium for a series of patterns and portraits. Muniz’s attempt and approach has exposed the less noticeable side of the picture to us and continued to contribute to the changes of this world through art.