String, Space and Surface in the Photography of Vik Muniz

Author: Plummer, Sandra

Source: Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, Volume 5, Number 2, August 2007 , pp. 230-243(14)

Publisher: Berg Publishers

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Abstract:

This article examines three series of works by the artist Vik Muniz—Pictures of Thread, Piranesi Prisons and Pictures of Wire. These works employ a string-like material to convey pictorial space. The "string" is utilized in different ways: to create a type of landscape tapestry, as a drawing constructed through "string art" techniques, and to make sculptural drawings. The use of string provides a three-dimensional element to the work, yet this apparent three-dimensionality jars with the presentation of the work as photographs of the original drawings. This article proposes an analysis of the work as reflexive examinations of the photograph. The structure of the article follows the movement from the nomadic quality of the string in Pictures of Thread, through to the taut grid construction of Piranesi Prisons and, finally, to the tensile rigid "string" of Pictures of Wire. The first section considers Muniz's Pictures of Thread and Piranesi Prisons series in relation to pictorial space and the haptic. The second section examines Pictures of Wire as an example of trompe l'oeil and simulacra. The article concludes by considering the flatness of the photograph in relation to a Deleuzian account of surface.

Keywords: PHOTOGRAPHY; MUNIZ; DELEUZE; SIMULACRUM; SURFACE; HAPTIC; TROMPE L'OEIL; REPRESENTATION

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/175183507X219533

Publication date: 2007-08-01

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