Now on view in Zürich are the latest works by contemporary artist Vik Muniz in an exhibition appropriately titled Pictures of Garbage. Muniz creates large scale replications of iconic Western images using refuse, food, dust, and more,and then photographing them from a distance before destroying the production and leaving only the photograph as the artwork. This labor intensive process abstracts the original images and creates a whole new platform for these icons to be considered, like the Mother and Child pictured above.

Aperture published Muniz’s monograph, Reflex: A Vik Muniz Primer in 2005, which gives insight to the artist’s modus operandi and much of his earlier work. Utilizing his art for a philanthropic cause, Muniz will be donating all of the proceeds from the sales of his larger prints to the Garbage Pickers Association of Jardim Gramacho. Serving as the resource for this series, Jardim Gramacho is the largest dump in Latin America and a major resource for many people. This organization was founded to support the 5,000 workers and their families whose lives are about to be dramatically affected by the imminent closure of the dump. Also part of the exhibition is work from a series titled Pictures of Paper (2008) which creates the illusion of classic photographs from artists like Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, and others through layers of black, white and gray papers.

Vik Muniz: Pictures of Garbage
Friday, April 3–Saturday, June 20. 2009

Arndt & Partner – Zürich
Lessingstrasse 5
CH-8002 Zurich
Switzerland