In his series Surfaces, Vik Muniz moves beyond representational imagery to focus on the viewer’s perception of the works. Like the Cubists, Muniz’s new artworks function within the gaps between...
In his series Surfaces, Vik Muniz moves beyond representational imagery to focus on the viewer’s perception of the works. Like the Cubists, Muniz’s new artworks function within the gaps between perception and the physical world by creating a space where the viewer will be confronted by the thought of not knowing where the picture plane rests. Although Muniz’s works utilize painting in both their process and concept, they are not paintings. They are, however, photographic images of painted surfaces that exist in an autonomous, physical form. Muniz’s working method is to subtract the material element as he chooses to photograph, construct, and layer the works in a manner that is timeless. Through the entropic negotiation of material loss and virtual gain, Muniz also pushes the viewer to question their relationship to the physical experience of an artwork, as images are so overwhelmingly mediated by the convenience and ubiquity of digital technology.