Art: Artist's Choice + Vik Muniz = Rebus @ MoMa

Frozen Foods, Irving Penn
From Artist's Choice + Vik Muniz = Rebus,
Special Exhibition Gallery 3rd floor

Perfectly composed edibles, splashed with naturally vibrant colors, captured neatly, intriguingly within a carefully delineated framework. A modern-day Jan van Eyck Stillleben one might assume. Indeed, Irving Penn's Frozen Foods (above) is just one work of 82 artworks within the exhibit: Rebus, in which one artist is chosen to assume the role of curator. In this exhibit Vik Muniz, a Brazilian artist dons the curatorial hat. Muniz seeks to explore the unlikely subject matter used in a variety of mediums: photography, canvas, sculpture, installation and video all from MoMa’s permanent collection. Rebus is defined by Muniz as “a puzzle in which unrelated visual and linguistic elements create a larger deductive meaning.” So, what does it mean when Frozen Foods is placed next to a sculpture of a plastic burger? Visual and tactile references to edible, but really, non-edible pieces of art. Throughout the exhibit my mind was searching endlessly for deeper meaning and possible connections between the clusters of work wittily and cleverly composed. But, with no thematic purpose defined in the exhibit, Muniz relinquishes meaning to the audience: make it what you want it to be, what you want it to mean! As Muniz says, “Rebus is a cognitive, visual ride that I hope will affect how visitors experience art here and in the rest of the Museum.”