Oscar Murillo (artist)

Untitled, 2012, debris, oil, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas, 195.5 x 160 cm (76 7/8 x 62 7/8 in)

Oscar Murillo (born 1986, La Paila, Colombia) is a fine artist working within the painting tradition. He currently lives and works in London.[1]

One work from 2012 is a seven-metre-long painting which he made in the private museum of Don and Mera Rubell.[2] Murillo carries out performance works in order to contextualize his paintings.[2] Critic Legacy Russell said that the artist explores 'the body in transit' in his work.[3]

Early life and education

Murillo was born, and spent the first ten years of his life, in La Paila, a small town in the Valle del Cauca Department of Colombia. His parents moved to London when he was 10 years old and knew no English.[4]

In 2007, Murillo earned his BA.(Hons) in Fine Art at University of Westminster. After graduating, he worked as a teacher in a secondary school. He soon quit his job and traveled to South America with his wife, Angelica Fernandes, whose family is from Venezuela.[4] In 2012, Murillo graduated from the Royal College of Art in London, with an MA in Fine Art.[3] Living in East London, he often worked as an installer for the neighborhood’s small galleries.[5]

Work

Detail from Untitled, 2012.

Murillo's work is fundamentally tied to the studio environment itself where he produces them:[6]

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.
Oscar Murillo, BOMB magazine, Winter 2013

He is collaborating with schools around the world in a project that involves covering students’ desks with canvases and asking children to draw on them, their creations eventually becoming part of a larger work.[5]

Art market

In February 2013, London auctions at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips all included Murillo’s work.[5] Artnet estimates that 24 Murillo pieces generated a total of $4.8 million at auction that year.[7] Untitled, 2012 sold for £218,500 at Phillips, London, 16 October 2013.[8]

Murillo is represented by David Zwirner Gallery in New York and London.

References

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