Lot 7
  • 7

Vik Muniz

Estimate
90,000 - 120,000 USD
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Description

  • Vik Muniz
  • Nympheas, after Claude Monet (Pictures of Magazines 2)
  • signed and dated 2013 on a label affixed to the reverse
  • c-print, in two parts
  • Overall framed: 221 by 309.9 cm.; 87 by 122in.
  • Executed in 2013, this work is number 6 from an edition of 6.

Provenance

Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner 

Condition

This work is in very good condition. The colours in the catalogue illustration are accurate with the overall tone being brighter and vibrant in the original work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

“With photographs you can see history through your own eyes and you can make your own judgments and interpretations… When people look at one of my pictures, I don’t want them to actually see something represented. I prefer for them to see how something gets to represent something else.” Vik Muniz

From a distance, Vik Muniz’s Nympheas, After Claude Monet (Pictures of Magazines 2) evokes a strong familiarity to the discernible eye. The familiar colors, composition, and style produce an instant recognition of one of the most fabled series in art history. Monet’s water lilies jump out at the viewer, screaming to be recognized.  However, despite this initial perception, the image is simultaneously as ambiguous as it is familiar; the object before your eyes is markedly different from the artwork this object educes in your memory. The unique yet familiar imagery forces one to intellectually engage in order to reconcile what the eyes see and what the mind recognizes.

It is this constant shift in perception that has become the trademark of Muniz’s oeuvre. Presenting the visually familiar through startling reconstructions has become a self-proclaimed obsession, which started at the beginning of his career in the early 1980s. He successfully achieves this reconstruction in his most recent works through photographing an array of uniquely unexpected found materials utilized to create images. These defining techniques are beautifully and intelligently demonstrated within Nympheas, After Claude Monet. By photographing a collage comprised of bits and strips of paper from glossy magazines, Muniz’s use of medium creates a series of interpretations that all rely on the initial illusion of Monet’s famed Nympheas series. Muniz does not attempt to improve upon Monet’s pre-existing work; in fact he attempts to achieve the opposite. The difference in medium allows Muniz to distance himself from Monet. By replacing Monet’s brushstrokes with the photography of unexpected materials, Muniz re-creates the familiar water lilies, an iconic and universally recognized art historical image while simultaneously forcing a reinterpretation due to the use of the stripped down medium.

Muniz commented  that he, “wanted to produce work that would make the viewer reconsider the importance of these great works from the perspective of this fascinating ambiguity.” Watteau copied Rubens, who copied Giotto, who copied Michelangelo. Degas and Manet met when they were both making copies of Velasquez’s Infanta Marguerite. Van Gogh made countless copies from work produced by other artists. As these artists before him, Muniz’s copy of Monet challenges us to perceive our environment in a new way without completely hiding the path that took us there in the first place. Muniz has produced several well-known series that incorporate the reconstruction and interpretation of famous images that have attained an almost universal recognition within society. The divorce of the “famous” image from their owners challenges the viewer to decipher the image on their own, resulting in an interpretation that becomes the result of an entirely personal process.