Artist’s Choice

Vik Muniz, Rebus

Dec 11, 2008–Feb 23, 2009

MoMA

Ellsworth Kelly. Yellow from the series Line Form Color. 1951. Colored Paper. 7 1/2 × 8″ (19 × 20.3 cm). Gift of the artist and purchased with funds provided by Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, Sarah-Ann and Werner H. Kramarsky, Mr. and Mrs. James R. Hedges, IV, Kathy and Richard S. Fuld, Jr. and Committee on Drawings Funds. © 2008 Ellsworth Kelly
  • MoMA, Floor 3, Exhibition Galleries Special Exhibitions Gallery

Vik Muniz (Brazilian, b. 1961) is the ninth artist to participate in Artist’s Choice, a series of exhibitions in which an artist serves as curator, selecting works from MoMA’s vast collection to create an exhibition. In his work, Muniz inventively questions the function and traditions of visual representation by using unlikely materials to render the subjects in his photographs. For this exhibition, Muniz has chosen a rebus—a combination of unrelated visual and linguistic elements to create a larger deductive meaning—as the organizing principle of his presentation. The exhibition will feature approximately 80 works of sculpture, photography, painting, prints, drawings, video, and design objects selected and installed by the artist in a narrative sequence to create surprising juxtapositions and new meanings. Among the artists whose work will be on view are John Baldessari, Gordon Matta-Clark, Nan Goldin, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Eugène Atget, and Rachel Whiteread. Design objects will range from a wooden pencil to a kitchen pail to a Rubik’s Cube to finally, an Exit sign.

Organized by Vik Muniz with Eva Respini, Assistant Curator, Department of Photography.

  • This exhibition is part of Artist’s Choice.
  • The exhibition is made possible by Anne and Kenneth Griffin.

    The Artist’s Choice exhibition series is made possible through The Agnes Gund Artist’s Choice Fund endowed by Iara Lee and George Gund III, Lulie and Gordon Gund, Ann and Graham Gund, and Sarah and Geoffrey Gund.

    Publications

    • Artist's choice + Vik Muniz=rebus Out of print, 4 pages
    • Press release 4 pages

    Artists

    Installation images

    How we identified these works

    In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.

    If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].

    Licensing

    If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

    MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit https://www.moma.org/research/circulating-film.

    If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

    Feedback

    This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].