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For immediate release Public Art Fund and BAM present? Vik Muniz's Brooklyn Academy of Music Transformed into Gigantic Gingerbread House New Commission sponsored by Target Stores, on view October 1 New York, NY (September 3, 2002) - This fall, the intersection of Flatbush and Lafayette Avenues will become Brooklyn's sweetest spot when Brazilian artist Vik Muniz transforms one of the borough's most recognizable buildings into a spectacular gingerbread house. Through summer 2003, as Brooklyn Academy of Music's historic building at 30 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene undergoes a two-year restoration, its façade will become a magical and whimsical version of itself, decorated with mouthwatering gumdrops, peppermint sticks, red licorice and other colorful candies that replicate the building's every feature. CandyBAM, presented by Target Stores, is the first ever collaboration between Public Art Fund and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). Muniz's gigantic gingerbread house, a photographic blow-up of an actual gingerbread cake, comes complete with frosting windows, jellybean arches, gummy bear cornices and an m&m frieze. Reproducing BAM's beaux arts architectural minutiae in frosted detail-from its grand two-story stained glass windows down to the names of famous composers-Muniz has changed the familiar landmark into a tantalizing, lighthearted fairytale. Muniz's CandyBAM wrapper will conceal the restoration work, creating a sense of anticipation even as it preserves and exaggerates our memory of the building beneath. For CandyBAM, Muniz worked with Soutine Bakery to match the exact scale of BAM's building. At 300 feet long by 60 feet tall, CandyBAM is the most ambitious example of a large body of photographic work that Muniz has made using food or other unusual substances to depict a familiar object or scene. He once recreated Life magazine's famous photograph of Jackson Pollock, using the suitably drippy medium of chocolate sauce to depict the action painter at work. He has made portraits of children out of sugar, reconstructed the landscape paintings of Gustave Courbet and Claude Lorraine out of thread, and has even made the head of Medusa at the bottom of a plate of spaghetti and tomato sauce. Calling these works "low-tech illusions," Muniz investigates the way that we believe what we see before our eyes, sometimes even when we know it is an illusion. Armed with both expert draftsman skills and an interest in mining art history, pop culture, science and other fields for his visual imagery, Muniz's works are by turn poignant or irreverent, subtle or slapstick. Typically, the materials he uses add a layer of meaning to the object depicted. With CandyBAM, the significance of his mouthwatering materials is concise and exuberant: "The symbolic meaning of the gingerbread house is the celebration of the Brooklyn Academy of Music as a place of fantasy and joy," Muniz has said. "I would also like it to give the public the feeling of anticipation-just like a child feels in front of a bag of candy-of the unveiling of the renovated building." Brooklyn Academy of Music is located at 30 Lafayette Avenue between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street. Subway: 1, 2, 4, 5, M, N, Q, R, W to Atlantic-Pacific stop; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Ave. CandyBAM can be seen from outside the building daily. About the Artist About Public Art Fund The Public Art Fund is a non-profit arts organization supported by generous contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations, and with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs. About Brooklyn Academy of Music About Target Stores # # # Contact:
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