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Lot Essay
'My studio is a cradle of dust and dirt, of pollution. I don't tidy up at the end of each production process. It's all very much on purpose; it's continuous process, a machine of which I'm the catalyst. Things get moved around, I step on them, and they get contaminated. It's not about leaving traces, it's about letting things mature on their own-like aging cheese or letting a stew cook, they get more flavorful. That's kind of how these paintings are made'
(O. Murillo, quoted in L. Russell, 'Oscar Murillo', in BOMB Magazine https://bombsite.com/articles/6921, [accessed 28 May 2013]).
Epic in scale and reaching two metres in height, Untitled (Leche), 2011, vibrates with the energy and excitement surrounding Oscar Murillo. Rooted in the graffiti tradition, Murillo's textured paintings convey a dynamism in their gestural scrawl. Executed in oil, oilstick and dirt on canvas, the artist makes highly contingent and deliberate actions to mark the canvas, evident in its creases and track marks.
Born in 1986, Murillo is a recent graduate of London's Royal College of Art. A painter with a flair for the performative, he often works with video and participatory installation. In 2012 Murillo presented The Cleaner's Late Summer Party for the acclaimed Park Nights series at the Serpentine Gallery, London where spectators became participants in a jubilant celebration of identity, culture and social inclusion. Inspired by the artist's dynamism, the Rubell Foundation, Miami invited Murillo to exhibit in their annual show following the success of American Exuberance the year before, which included works by luminaries such as Richard Prince, Jeff Koons and Christopher Wool. For his first solo exhibition in the United States, Oscar Murillo: Work, the artist took up residency in the Rubell Foundation for six weeks, immersing himself in his practice and the potential of the enormous space, activating the gallery with an overwhelming sense of vitality and movement.
At the heart of Murillo's practice is the idea of labour and work; his art is in constant progression, a product of relational aesthetics. Provisional and deliberate actions co-exist in Murillo's paintings and performances - dirt, creases and tracks mark the movement. Speaking of this practice, Murillo has said: 'paintings happen in the studio where I have my own kind of system, although there can be physical residue of performance in them. I like to cut up the canvas in different sections, work on them individually, fold them and just leave them around for months. I don't work on a painting with the goal of finishing it or having a complete and finished painting at the end of a work process. The idea is to get through as much material as possible, and various materials go through various processes. In most parts there is this mark making that happens with a broomstick and oil paint. I make a bunch of those canvases, fold them in half, and put them on the floor. My studio is a cradle of dust and dirt, of pollution. I don't tidy up at the end of each production process. It's all very much on purpose; it's continuous process, a machine of which I'm the catalyst. Things get moved around, I step on them, and they get contaminated. It's not about leaving traces, it's about letting things mature on their own-like aging cheese or letting a stew cook, they get more flavorful. That's kind of how these paintings are made' (O. Murillo, quoted in L. Russell, 'Oscar Murillo', in BOMB Magazine https://bombsite.com/articles/6921, [accessed 28 May 2013]).
(O. Murillo, quoted in L. Russell, 'Oscar Murillo', in BOMB Magazine https://bombsite.com/articles/6921, [accessed 28 May 2013]).
Epic in scale and reaching two metres in height, Untitled (Leche), 2011, vibrates with the energy and excitement surrounding Oscar Murillo. Rooted in the graffiti tradition, Murillo's textured paintings convey a dynamism in their gestural scrawl. Executed in oil, oilstick and dirt on canvas, the artist makes highly contingent and deliberate actions to mark the canvas, evident in its creases and track marks.
Born in 1986, Murillo is a recent graduate of London's Royal College of Art. A painter with a flair for the performative, he often works with video and participatory installation. In 2012 Murillo presented The Cleaner's Late Summer Party for the acclaimed Park Nights series at the Serpentine Gallery, London where spectators became participants in a jubilant celebration of identity, culture and social inclusion. Inspired by the artist's dynamism, the Rubell Foundation, Miami invited Murillo to exhibit in their annual show following the success of American Exuberance the year before, which included works by luminaries such as Richard Prince, Jeff Koons and Christopher Wool. For his first solo exhibition in the United States, Oscar Murillo: Work, the artist took up residency in the Rubell Foundation for six weeks, immersing himself in his practice and the potential of the enormous space, activating the gallery with an overwhelming sense of vitality and movement.
At the heart of Murillo's practice is the idea of labour and work; his art is in constant progression, a product of relational aesthetics. Provisional and deliberate actions co-exist in Murillo's paintings and performances - dirt, creases and tracks mark the movement. Speaking of this practice, Murillo has said: 'paintings happen in the studio where I have my own kind of system, although there can be physical residue of performance in them. I like to cut up the canvas in different sections, work on them individually, fold them and just leave them around for months. I don't work on a painting with the goal of finishing it or having a complete and finished painting at the end of a work process. The idea is to get through as much material as possible, and various materials go through various processes. In most parts there is this mark making that happens with a broomstick and oil paint. I make a bunch of those canvases, fold them in half, and put them on the floor. My studio is a cradle of dust and dirt, of pollution. I don't tidy up at the end of each production process. It's all very much on purpose; it's continuous process, a machine of which I'm the catalyst. Things get moved around, I step on them, and they get contaminated. It's not about leaving traces, it's about letting things mature on their own-like aging cheese or letting a stew cook, they get more flavorful. That's kind of how these paintings are made' (O. Murillo, quoted in L. Russell, 'Oscar Murillo', in BOMB Magazine https://bombsite.com/articles/6921, [accessed 28 May 2013]).