Channeling the likes of Cy Twombly and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Columbian-born artist Oscar Murillo makes beautifully expressive paintings using oil sticks, spray paint, and detritus (such as dirt or dust) from his studio, or what he calls his art’s “DNA.” By appropriating vocabulary from everyday advertising in his canvases (words like “pork,” “yoga,” “dark Americano,” or “tamales”), Murillo explores the functionality of displaced words, inserting a greater poetic sensibility into his work. Oscar Murillo’s work has been in exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery, London; Hotel, London; Cole Contemporary, London; The Amphitheatre, Arles; Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris; Nicole Klagsbrun, New York; Brand New Gallery, Milan; and Mihai Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles. Oscar Murillo lives and works in London.
Oscar Murillo
LIPSTICK
2012
spray paint, oil stick, oil, and dirt on canvas
94 1/2 x 94 1/2