Review by Booklist Review
The conceit here is a studio tour given by a line-drawn depiction of contemporary Brazilian American artist Vik Muniz. Included are many photographic examples of his art, which he often constructs from everyday objects (example: a peanut butter Mona Lisa). The book reproduces these via engaging lift-the-flaps, foldouts, and interactive questions such as, What do you see here? Muniz finds inspiration in disadvantaged people's experiences, using garbage to create portraits of trash pickers; he also makes a science connection in his creation of images using living cells and electron microscopes to draw on grains of sand. The text also references art concepts such as texture and collage, as well as art's power to wake people up. Meanwhile, helpful back matter includes a time line of Muniz's life. While not delving deeply into any one aspect, overall this works well as an introduction to an artist and his work. It's an interesting visual experience and a call to creativity. As Muniz exhorts, You are all artists. --Medlar, Andrew Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-Scores of juvenile literature offerings examine the lives of famous artists from the past, but books on contemporary living artists for young people are not always easy to find. Muniz is a highly successful and critically acclaimed artist who brings his art to a wider (and younger) audience with this book. In this biographical work in the first-person, Muniz et al use a conversational tone to walk readers through his life and artistic process, exploring the evolution of his style through the use of nontraditional materials (food and garbage) and methods (etching tiny images on grains of sand), while emphasizing the importance of play and experimentation. Sophisticated themes including art as social commentary, the relationship between artist and viewer, and the importance of self-reflection are presented in a way that is both thought-provoking and accessible. Well-designed folds and flaps provide an interactive experience and challenge readers to examine their own perceptions. VERDICT This book will appeal to artists and innovators of all ages while expanding their idea of who and what can make art.-Alyssa Annico, Youngstown State University, OH © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Kids see how one artist creates with unorthodox media. Narrating in first person, acclaimed artist Muniz, a white Brazilian-American, showcases his techniques, unconventional materials, and finished work. Some is original imagery: a cotton sculpture resembling a cloud. Much is fascinating homage: an eye-popping re-creation, in chocolate syrup, of Hans Namuth's photograph of Jackson Pollock at work; a tender re-creation, in confetti, of Paul Czanne's Still Life with Apples; a spiky re-creation, in toy soldiers, of a photo of a 14-year-old Civil War soldier. Liftable flaps playfully reveal the classic artwork he's re-creating or Muniz's own piece in a second scale. The original art Muniz re-creates often gets short shrift visually. Instead, bromidic assertions and a surfeit of autobiography congest the pages in large speech bubbles. Humility is in short supply. Muniz's Double Mona Lisa, one peanut butter, one jelly, is truly fabulous, but, shadily, only the footnote and backmatternot the primary textcredit Andy Warhol with having done a Double Mona Lisa first. The text portrays Muniz as a slight savior figure to black and brown people; he sounds content to use their lives for career fodder, as when he renders portraits of black Saint Kitts children in sugar to contrast them with their "very bitter" parents who work on sugarcane plantations. Visually busy and humming with ego, but Muniz's art is splendid. (timeline, resources, glossary, list of illustrations, index) (Nonfiction. 6-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
