Oscar Murillo
Spread from THEM, 2015–24
Artist’s book: pen, graphite, pastel, and paint on paper, each page: 11 ¾ × 8 ⅝ inches (30 × 22 cm)
© Oscar Murillo. Photo: Reinis Lismanis, courtesy the artist
Gagosian is pleased to announce an exhibition by Oscar Murillo at its gallery in London’s Burlington Arcade, and the artist’s takeover of the Gagosian Shop. The project, titled THEM, unites elements of Murillo’s practice and complements The flooded garden (2024), his newly commissioned installation at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, which is on view from July 20 to August 26 as part of the UNIQLO Tate Play program. THEM considers the simple yet radical act of mark making, intertwining themes of community, kinship, globalization, and the universal.
The word them is both quotidian and profound, at moments carrying antagonistic political and social overtones. It also resonates with the concepts underlying The flooded garden, which was inspired by the paintings that Claude Monet produced in his garden in Giverny, France, during his battle with cataracts. Murillo was drawn to the visual qualities of Monet’s paintings and intrigued by their origins in physical and emotional struggle. Thinking about cataracts evoked for the artist the idea of “social blindness” or the inability to connect meaningfully with the realities of other people. THEM includes painted works on paper from the series study for social cataracts (2021–), which pursues this concept.
At Burlington Arcade, these works are incorporated into Mesmerizing Beauty (2021–), an installation in which cheap, utilitarian white plastic chairs serve as symbolic empty vessels that support the works on paper. (A larger iteration of the project is on view at Tate Modern as part of The flooded garden). Gagosian’s presentation also includes a unique painted edition of THEM (2015–24), Murillo’s unpublished artist’s book filled with abstract and symbolic markings that overlay and obscure photographs from his childhood. Over several years, Murillo has spent time intervening in the pages on this intimate scale. At points, the additions deliberately obfuscate the identity of the individuals in the images, emphasizing the universality of kinship and the significance of the gesture.
In conjunction with Marks and Whispers, at Gagosian, Rome, Oscar Murillo and Alessandro Rabottini sit down to discuss the artist’s paintings and works on paper in the exhibition, as well as how the show emphasizes the formal, political, and social dimensions of the color red in Murillo’s work of the last decade.
Ahead of two exhibitions—The Flooded Garden at Tate Modern, London, and Marks and Whispers at Gagosian, Rome—curator Alessandro Rabottini visited Oscar Murillo’s London studio to discuss the connections between them.
In conjunction with Franz West: Papier, the gallery’s presentation of paper-based works by Franz West at Frieze Masters 2023, artist Oscar Murillo and arts writer, critic, and broadcaster Ben Luke sit down to discuss Murillo’s collaboration in selecting the works on view, as well as his personal experiences meeting the late artist in London.
