‘I am a mosaic artist’: why Brazilian Vik Muniz prefers not to mix his art with politics
The mixed media artist, photographer, sculptor and videographer, who calls himself ‘a mosaic artist’, meets STYLE to discuss his latest work on show at Art Basel Hong Kong
Brazilian Vik Muniz is a difficult man to classify.
He’s a man of many titles – mixed media artist, photographer, sculptor, videographer, as well as TEDx speaker.
That complexity is apparent in his stunning creations, too – most recently for the French champagne maker Maison Ruinart.
“When I began my creative process at Ruinart I wanted to express what couldn’t be conveyed using language and present the complexity that goes into creating the exceptional through a creative flow,” he says.
When I first viewed his work for Maison Ruinart, on display in Hong Kong during last month’s art fair, Art Basel Hong Kong, my first question was: is this a painting or a photograph?
Born in Sao Paulo in 1961, Muniz, who calls himself “a mosaic artist”, remained unfazed.
In the past he has admitted that creating artwork is not always easy: “The more difficult the path, the better the result.”
The fruits of his collaboration with Maison Ruinart, which is based in Reims, France – the first house to use the precious chardonnay grapes to produce its cuvées – were seen in the artwork, An Ode to the Power of Nature and its Creative Flow.