“No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination.”
—Edward Hopper
In order to create his reinterpretation of Edward Hopper’s 1949 painting Summer in the City, Vik Muniz collaged thousands of pieces of paper torn from magazine pages, meticulously replicating the color and composition of the original work. The collage was then photographed and enlarged without losing any of the details of its constituent parts. Close examination reveals fragmentary images and tantalizing snippets of text, all of which seem to apply directly or obliquely to Hopper’s painting. This brilliant layering of high and low cultural references is a hallmark of Muniz’s work.
