Vik Muniz - 20th c. and Contemporary Art Day Sale - Afternoon Session New York Tuesday, December 8, 2020 | Phillips

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  • Moving between abstraction and figuration, the work of the Brazilian artist, Vik Muniz proposes the creation of worlds where the appearance of things is re-signified in new images that he photographs. Muniz’s Pictures of Garbage, 2008-2011, is arguably his best-known series and was the subject of an award-winning documentary called Waste Land, 2010.


    As an emphatic reading of the harsh inequalities faced by the "catadores" (rag-pickers) in Jardim Gramacho – the world’s largest dump site – the present work, criticizes our unbridled consumerism by contrasting the contents of the image with artworks from the cannon of western culture. Muniz portrays seven "catadores" working in the yard on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro through a trompe l'oeil technique using actual garbage from the yard. The meticulous technique highlights and contrasts beauty with waste. Similarly, in Jackie (Pictures of Diamonds), 2005, Muniz highlights a remarkable figure, while at the same time questioning the legitimacy of the diamond trade that goes hand-in-hand with the image.

     

    Property from the Tiroche DeLeon Collection


    Serge Tiroche co-founded the Tiroche DeLeon Collection in 2011, and with a unique combination of intuition and extensive knowledge, he was able to amass one of the strongest contemporary art collections of works by Latin American artists.


    Over the last ten years, Serge Tiroche has been travelling to Latin America, acquiring remarkable works of art, guided not only by his own keen taste, talent and timing, but also by relying on a very meticulous process that involves continuous research and a deep understanding of the history of the continent, as well as in the development of personal relationships with artists, galleries and other cultural institutions. Through the creation of this well-respected and influential collection, Tiroche has also provided broader exposure for these artists, introducing their work to a larger, international audience.


    Representing an expansive and diverse selection of the most influential artists actively working in Latin America today, a few of the esteemed names that constitute this important collection include Abraham Cruz Villegas, OSGEMEOS, Adrian Villar Rojas, Leandro Erlich and Vik Muniz.   The selection of works currently on offer from the collection is representative of both well-established and more emerging artists. Working with everyday objects in a manner that intersects distinct movements like Pop art and Art Povera, these varied works heighten our perception and elicit an appreciation of our own experiences. If there is one point around which these artists may be brought together, it is that each of them approaches their work as a field of exploration, suggesting that art offers a unique way of discovering our relationship to the world, a theme that resonates today perhaps more than ever. 

     

    Collectors Digest

     

    Concurrent Institutional Show:

     

    Spain, Museo Universidad de Navarra,Vik Muniz, September 23, 2020 – March 21, 2021

    • Provenance

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

    • Exhibited

      Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Vik Muniz: Pictures of Everything, March 27 - August 2, 2014, p. 87 (another example exhibited and illustrated)
      New York, Museum of Arts and Design, New Territories: Laboratories for Design, Craft and Art from Latin America, November 4, 2014 - April 6, 2015, p. 23 (Marat (Sabastiâo) illustrated, p. 150)
      Miami, Mana Wynwood, Everything you are I am not: Latin American contemporary art from the Tiroche DeLeon Collection, December 3, 2015 - January 6, 2016
      Jersey City, Mana Contemporary, Everything you are I am not: Latin American contemporary art from the Tiroche DeLeon Collection, May 1 - July 23, 2016Albuquerque Museum; Puebla, Museo Amparo, New Territories, January - September 26, 2016 (another example exhibited)
      Davenport, Figge Art Museum, Vik Muniz: Hand Remade, June 8 - September 2019 (another example exhibited)

    • Literature

      Pedro Corrêa do Lago, ed., Vik Muniz Obra Completa 1987-2009, Rio de Janeiro 2009, p. pp. 638-45 (another example illustrated)
      Iain Millar, "Film Follows Brazilian Artist's Project with Garbage Pickers in Rio", The Art Newspaper, 2010, p. 218
      Katherine Bindley, "A Modern Marat", The Wall Street Journal, October 16, 2010, online (another example of Marat (Sabastiâo) illustrated)
      Carol Kino, "Where Art Meets Trash and Transforms Life", The New York Times, Octobe 21, 2010, online (another example of Marat (Sabastiâo) illustrated)
      Stephen Holden, "From a Universe of Trash, Recycling Art and Hope", The New York Times, October 28, 2010, online
      Jason Edward Kaufman, "Oscar-nominated 'Waste Land' gives grace (and art) to garbage", The Washington Post, March 12, 2011, online
      Kristin Bauer, "David Ellis and 5 Other Artists Transform Trash Into Dynamic Works of Art", Beautiful/Decay, December 15, 2003

Property from from the Tiroche DeLeon Collection

496

Seven works from the series Pictures of Garbage: (i) The Sower (Zumbi); (ii) The Bearer (Imã); (iii) Marat (Sebastião); (iv) The Gypsy (Magna); (v) Isis (Woman Ironing); (vi) Mother and Children (Suellem); (vii) Atlas (Carlão)

signed and dated "Vik Muniz 2008-11" on a label affixed to the reverse of the backing board of Atlas (Carlão)
chromogenic print, in 7 parts
(i, iii) 30 1/4 x 23 1/2 in. (76.8 x 59.7 cm)
(ii) 30 3/4 x 23 1/2 in. (78.1 x 59.7 cm)
(iv, vii) 30 x 23 1/2 in. (76.2 x 59.7 cm)
(v) 33 1/4 x 23 1/2 in. (84.5 x 59.7 cm)
(vi) 30 1/2 x 23 1/2 in. (77.5 x 59.7 cm)

Executed in 2008-2011, this work is number 19 from an edition of 30.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$70,000 - 100,000 

Sold for $75,600

Contact Specialist

Rebekah Bowling
Head of Day Sale, Afternoon Session
New York

1 212 940 1250
rbowling@phillips.com

20th c. and Contemporary Art Day Sale - Afternoon Session

New York 8 December 2020