Brazilian Artist Vik Muniz's Work Goes On View at the Frist Center in June

This summer, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts' Gordon Contemporary Artists Project Gallery will feature works by contemporary Brazilian artist Vik Muniz. Muniz is widely celebrated for his photographs, which he produces by arranging refuse materials to mimic pre-existing imagery. Muniz's works in this exhibition-images of garbage arranged to simulate masterpieces of Western art-explore the relationship between the timelessness ascribed to such cultural milestones and the grim immediacy of poverty and waste. The exhibition, entitled Vik Muniz: Garbage Matters, will be on display from June 14 through September 15, 2013.

Featuring selections from two series, Pictures of Junk and Pictures of Garbage, the exhibition delves into the fundamental questions about aesthetic and economic value in art and life. "Muniz encourages viewers to consider waste as an important, yet often hidden, part of the human ecosystem," says Frist Center Chief Curator, Mark Scala. "When the artist transforms devalued detritus into something beautiful and links it to universally acclaimed examples of cultural attainment, he inspires us to revisit our notions of what is to be valued."

Trash objects for the production of Pictures of Garbage were gathered from the world's largest landfill, Jardim Granacho, located in the artist's hometown of Rio de Janeiro. Muniz invited local gleaners-whose livelihood derives from collecting and selling recyclable materials-to gather cast-off materials with which to compose the photographs, and in some cases to pose as models in the re-creation of the masterpieces. "The artist has brilliantly associated the invisibility of the landfill with that of the impoverished gleaners, whose work is dangerous, unrelenting, and unappreciated," Mr. Scala notes. "Muniz reminds us of the economic and environmental value of recycling, while underscoring the humanity of those that more prosperous people may not have known even existed."

Materials gleaned from the landfill were arranged under Muniz's direction to echo famous paintings such as Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. Muniz's remake incorporates wire, old computers, broken bottles and other detritus in its portrayal of the goddess emerging from the sea on her shell. "From a distance, these elements merge into a seemingly integrated reproduction; it could never be mistaken for the actual painting, but its derivation is clear," explains Mr. Scala. "As the viewer moves closer to the photograph, the nature of the discarded elements composing the image becomes more evident.

"The humble materials comprising Muniz's work remind us that great cultural attainments throughout history have often been achieved in environments-and often as a consequence-of repression and economic disparity; art can come at a human cost. However, this does not alter the greater truth of Muniz's vision: beauty, humanistic values, and spiritual aspiration can emerge from the most abject of worlds."