Arguably the most famous contemporary artist to come out of Brazil, Vik Muniz just opened his first show in China and Hong Kong this week at Ben Brown Gallery. And wow, was the opening on Tuesday packed!

The show features editioned photographs from his most recent series ‘Pictures of Magazines 2’, collaged recreations of familiar masterpieces by Caravaggio, Cezanne, Stubbs, Manet and Hopper. Magazine images are torn out by their thousands to create a pointillist colour-palette faithful rendition of the original work, which is then photographed and magnified. The layering and reassemblage of the paper mimics brushstrokes, giving the illusion of impasto applied paint.

Renowned for his use of unconventional materials to create his works – such as chocolate sauce, diamonds, dirt, rubbish, sugar, toys and caviar – Muniz challenges the way we understand art and read visual information. Each work is a multi-layered material creation of references, double meaning, irony and humour.

I interviewed the artist over two days for the upcoming issue of Tatler magazine. Stay tuned for the feature.

In the meantime, check out the pics of some of the works in the show at Ben Brown Gallery.