Vik Muniz, Part I

I particularly enjoyed Muniz's pieces that played with the viewer's perceptions. For example, I liked the "wire drawings" because I think that they ask something of the viewer; they are comical, but this humor has to be discovered. We can contrast this with the overt cleverness of other images, such as his "Clown Skull," or "Big Book." These appeal to me less because they seem almost gimmicky, like parlor tricks. I see that, as "relics," they are silly, but I question whether I am impressed by Muniz's wit or his art. I kind of think the former. I appreciate some of his other works more because, although I can still find the humor, I also see the art. Like in his wire drawings, or his pictures of thread, at first they look like pleasant representations, perhaps in pencil or ink. If we take the time to look closer, we see that the artist has fooled us, that he is deceiving the viewer. Thus, I think then, that what appeals to me most is Muniz's audacity to trick us, to toy with our perceptions. In a teasing way, he is questioning our commitment to the image, asking us to look again.