Oscar Murillo

Oscar Murillo has created a visual language encompassing recurring elements and motifs; draped black canvases; large-scale paintings composed of stitched-together fragments; metal structures evoking autopsy tables and rock-like sculptures formed of corn and clay. These and other components play out across a wide range of media, including painting, video work, room-sized installations and actions.

All of the artist’s distinct works can be seen to constitute a sustained and evolving investigation of notions of community, informed by cross-cultural personal ties, as well as the constant transnational movement that has become integral to Murillo’s practice.

In 2013, Murillo initiated the global, collaborative project Frequencies. The project has invited thousands of students aged 10-16 to participate by freely drawing, marking and writing on raw canvas placed on their school desks over several months, and to date has visited over 450 schools in 34 different countries.

Oscar Murillo was born in 1986 in La Paila, Colombia, and lives and works in various locations. He earned a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts at the University of Westminster in 2007 and an MA from the Royal College of Art, London in 2012. In 2019, Murillo was one of four artists to collectively be awarded the prestigious Turner Prize. 

Murillo’s recent solo exhibitions include Currents 121: Oscar Murillo, Saint Louis Art Museum, US (2022); Social Cataracts at KM21, The Hague, Netherlands; Spirits and Gestures, Fondazione Memmo, Rome, Italy; Condiciones aún por titular, Museum of Art of the National University of Colombia, Bogotá (all 2021-22); Frequencies, organised by Artangel at Cardinal Pole Catholic School, London; and MAM Project 029: Oscar Murillo, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (all 2021). Past solo exhibitions include Aspen Art Museum, US; Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany (both 2019-20); Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK; K11 Art Museum, Shanghai, China (both 2019); Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2017-18); Yarat Contemporary Art Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan (2016-7); Museo de Arte de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá;  Centro Cultural Daoíz y Velarde, Madrid, Spain; Performa 15, New York, US and Artpace, San Antonio, US (all 2015); The Mistake Room, Los Angeles< US (2014) and South London Gallery, UK (2013).

Murillo is represented by Carlos/Ishikawa, David Zwirner, Isabella Bortolozzi Galerie, Kurimanzutto and Taka Ishii Gallery.