Jelly, Garbage + Toys: Making Pictures with Vik Muniz

Photographer Muniz explores the importance of play and the power of art to command a viewer’s attention in a book that highlights his own approach to materials, subject matter, and scale, and the existing artwork that often inspires his reimaginings. Following a brief overview of his childhood in Brazil, Muniz keeps biographical details to a minimum (a closing timeline provides more info), focusing instead on his embrace of photography, in order to control the experience of seeing his artwork, and the projects that followed: among them, a version of Corot’s The Dreamer created entirely from thread and portraits of the children of sugarcane workers in Saint Kitts made from sugar. Along the way, Muniz’s musings give readers plenty to chew on about the nature of art (“Art is not something you make alone—you need a viewer, a spectator, an audience. It’s a collaboration”), and flaps incorporated into many pages let readers compare Muniz’s work to the pieces that inspired them. It’s both a playful introduction to Muniz’s oeuvre and a chance for readers to rethink what they believe art to be. Ages 8–12. (Oct.)