"…photography has the power of rendering visual input not as the eye perceives it, but as the brain develops it - as a finished intellectual product." —Vik Muniz
Recycling, repurposing, and parodying canonical artworks with a range of everyday materials has come to characterise Vik Muniz’s well-known photographic practice. Born in Brazil, Muniz’s love for the United States, popular culture and art museums in the country have deeply inspired his mixed-media approach. This present work is a homage to Ed Rusha’s iconic Standard Station and undoubtedly one of Muniz’s most famous appropriations. Car parts are used by Muniz in his reproduction, layering Ed Rusha’s fine art piece with familiar objects. Rusha's original pastel ink colours are replaced by a dark sheet, amplifying the geometrical aspect of the station. The spotlights shining from behind the structure in Muniz’s piece, enhanced by the monochrome background, are reminiscent of Rusha’s artwork 20th century Fox. Standard Station (Night), after Ed Ruscha from Pictures of Cars merges two symbols of American pop culture: the gasoline station and Hollywood cinema, in a nostalgic ode to 1960s Los Angeles.
Muniz has exhibited internationally, notably at the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro and the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. His work is now held in over 123 public collections worldwide.