Vik Muniz

The brain doesn't pluck its ideas from the flowerbed of idleness. It is above all through the interactions with materials, through work, through effort and ultimately through failure that we nourish our source of ideas.


This statement by internationally renowned Brazilian artist Vik Muniz talks a lot about his work. He gets inspiration in other artists' work, uses all kinds of materials (from plastic toys to computers passing through pasta and chocolate syrup) and invite the spectator to reflect with him about the very concept of reality, as well as fame, happiness and the essence of things.

One of the most sensitive of his pieces, in my opinion, is the Sugar Children. After spending time in a sugar plantation in the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, Vik realised how sweet the children were and how narrow their future tended to be. So he used a black base and made the children’s portraits with sugar, the very object that represented at the same time sweetness and oppression.




Wanna know more? Check Vik on TED.