“I wanted to portray the violent transformation of nature in the European periphery. I have experienced that the concept of wilderness, and virgin land untouched by humans, has disintegrated.” –Helene Schmitz
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Photo Mat Smith
Oscar Murillo
Artist
Born in 1986 in Colombia, Oscar Murillo immigrated to London with his family in 1997. Murillo is best known for his dynamic painting style that is marked by ferocious scribbles of oil paint on fabrics of varying sizes and textures that are then stitched together to create unique assemblages. A closer look into his practice, however, reveals that the artist possesses a vast and highly idiosyncratic vocabulary wherein he responds to each exhibition’s specific context, an approach that allows Murillo to combine various mediums including drawing, print, painting, video, installation, and performance.
Oscar Murillo earned his B.F.A. from the University of Westminster (2007) and his M.F.A. from the Royal College of Art, London (2012). Murillo’s works are fundamentally tied to questions about the cycle of labor, production, consumption, and the environment where he produces them. The artist’s prodigious practice has been the focus of many important solo exhibitions at numerous institutions including Haus der Kunst, Munich (2017), CAPC Museé d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux (2017), Yarat Contemporary Art Centre, Baku (2016), and South London Gallery (2013). Selected group exhibitions include the 10th Berlin Biennale (2018), Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017), the 5th Anyang Public Art Project (2016), and the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). Murillo’s works are housed in major museums and private collections, including the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, among others. [Kukje Gallery]
Murillo was among the recipients of the Turner Prize 2019 presented by Tate and Turner Contemporary.
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