Wednesday Review: Vik Muniz

Today's artist of the day is Vik Muniz. I encountered Vik Muniz's work last week when I was in Montreal with my wife. He had an exhibit at the Musée D'Art Contemporain De Montréal. It was a fascinating exhibit and it was one of the best art exhibits I had seen in quite a while. Quite frankly I had given up on representational artwork sometime ago. I felt that photography could handle that and that other visual artists should focus on other things. Well, Muniz has changed my mind. He does his work with nontraditional media and then takes a photograph, which is his final piece. One of my favorites is this piece made with sugar sprinkled over black construction paper.Most of his portfolio can be seen on his website. I also highly recommend watching the PBS documentary in the video section of his site.

Architect of the Day: Wallace Harrison

Random Monday on Tuesday presents the Architect of the Day: Wallace Harrison.

Harrison wasn’t the most experimental architect of his time, but he collaborated with some of the most distinguished architects of the 20^th century and he designed some of the most famous buildings in the US. His first major project was working on Rockefeller Center while employed by the architectural firm Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray. He was the lead architect and master planner for Lincoln Center including the Metropolitan Opera House. He designed the UN Headquarters with his partner Max Abramovitz, LaGuardia Airport, the Time-Life Building, the Exxon Building at Rockefeller Center, and the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth. Some of his lesser known works are the Rockefeller Apartment across from the MOMA sculpture garden and the “Fish Church” in Stamford, CT. He frequently advised Nelson Rockefeller and the two were known to be good friends. I’ll leave you with some images and this article about the Rockefeller Apartments in the New York.

Lincoln Center Plaza

Metropolitan Opera House


United Nations Headquarters