Cage, from the series Pictures of Wire

1995

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

Born in São Paulo, Vik Muniz is a contemporary sculptor who constructs small- and large-scale objects out of a wide variety of commonplace materials such as string, wire, paper, dust, and even garbage. Obsessed by visual illusion, Muniz painstakingly creates ephemeral three-dimensional forms solely to recreate them as two-dimensional photographs. Here, what looks like a drawing of a bird cage is actually an image of a three-dimensional object made of wire. Unfortunately, Muniz left the cage door open and all the birds seem to have flown away. "The moment when one thing turns into another is the most beautiful moment," says Muniz. "A combination of sound turns into music. And that applies to everything." His first monograph is aptly titled Seeing is Believing.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

Title: Cage, from the series Pictures of Wire
Artist: Vik Muniz (Brazilian, born Sao Paulo, 1961)
Date: 1995
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: Image: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Framed: 21 × 21 in. (53.3 × 53.3 cm)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Collection
Curatorial Department: Photographs