With Vik Muniz, the Lambert Collection in Avignon continues the series of major monographic exhibitions that began with Francis Alys in 2002. Until May 13, 2012, Lambert Collection curator Eric Mézil will presents the work of Vik Muniz in house and at the neighboring Église des Célestins.

Born in Sao Paulo in 1961, began studying drawing after school after winning a grant. There, he discovered art history ,classics in old yellowed books with torn corners. For him, “depending on the books, their quality, art masterpieces were either pastel or brightly colored, black and white or simply colorized”. 
“The Imaginary Museum” allows spectators to discover more than 110 works, turning the Lambert Collection into the museum of a museum where Picasso, Monet, Goya and Piranese become puzzles, confetti, or even chocolate sauce.

The first room evokes his Oscar nomination in 2011 for his documentary about the favelas of Jardim Gramacho in Rio de Janeiro where he asked the local population surviving on the region’s garbage heaps to make art works out of the detritus. 
Vik Muniz transforms masterpieces by magnifying them in order to better transform them. This artistic practice, often spectacular, seems new with the latest technological and digital means used. But it is a tradition stemming from the studiolo of the Médicis in the 15th century, the cabinet of curiosities that would become, in the 19th century, precursors of the National History Museum.

At the Eglise des Célestins, a different passion is on display, that of Provence, a discovery he made before his notoriety and that was rekindled in the summer of 2010. The installation evokes the immense frescos of the Rio de Janeiro favelas painted in 2008. On the 14th century church floor, he painted a small portion of a Van Gogh landscape with the saturated colors of the French south.

“Color is always different in painting than what it is supposed to be. With photography, I can make pictures with pure pigments and photograph them. This is the new series I am working on now.”(Vik Muniz).

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr


Exhibition

Vik Muniz
The Imaginary Museum
Until May 13, 2012

Collection Lambert en Avignon
Église des Célestins
5 rue Violette
84000 Avignon
+33 (0)4 90 16 56 20

information@collectionlambert.com
Tuesday to Sunday, 11h00 to 18h00