
Pillow II (after Dürer)
<p>To create Pillow II, Vik Muniz arranged nails to create the shape of a pillow, which he then photographed. He based his composition on an etching by Albrecht Dürer (1417–1528), a German Renaissance artist known for his close observation skills and his ability to render details. Muniz chose to use nails to “draw” the pillow to visualize what he calls “identity conflicts.” Here, the hard nails are made to appear as two things they are not: the etched lines of Dürer and the soft folds of a feather pillow.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1999
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image: 47.9 × 58 cm (18 7/8 × 22 7/8 in.); Paper: 50.6 × 60.8 cm (19 15/16 × 23 15/16 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Vik Muniz
Artist

Photography
Best known for his witty, unexpected recreations of canonical art historical and pop culture imagery, Vik Muniz creates intricately layered photographic works that explore the nature of visual cognition and the transcendent area between perception and reality. From a peanut butter and jelly Double Mona Lisa (indebted, of course, to Andy Warhol’s treatment of da Vinci’s original masterwork) to a Bosco chocolate syrup rendering of one of Hans Namuth’s photographs of Jackson Pollack, Muniz uses unconventional materials to heighten effect. His signature process – using mixed media and found materials to create large-scale renderings that are discarded after being photographed – again alludes to the constructed nature of memory and perception.
Brooklyn, NY, USA; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Full artist profile →More
More by Vik Muniz
Self Portrait (Lucky)
2005 · Chromogenic print, printed 2009
Narcissus, after Caravaggio
2005 · Chromogenic print
Death of a Loyalist Militiaman Frederico Borrell García, after Robert Capa
2004 · Chromogenic print, printed 2009
Lee Harvey Oswald After Sigmar Polke
2001 · Silver dye bleach print
Migrant Mother, after Dorothea Lange
2000 · Chromogenic print, printed 2009
Still, after Cindy Sherman (from Pictures of Ink)
2000 · Silver dye bleach print
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Vik Muniz
- Year
- 1999
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image: 47.9 × 58 cm (18 7/8 × 22 7/8 in.); Paper: 50.6 × 60.8 cm (19 15/16 × 23 15/16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1999-116306
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified





