Dubbed as 'the 21st-century Basquiat', Oscar Murillo rose from art student to art star in the early 2010s. Now a household name in the contemporary art scene and represented by mega-gallery David Zwirner, the Colombian artist opens an exhibition at Gagosian in Rome.
Titled Marks and Whispers (12 April–15 June 2024), the exhibition looks at Murillo's use of the colour red over the past decade through paintings, works on paper, and a short film titled WRAPPED (2024).
Bold and multilayered, Murillo's paintings range from small to vast—some span over two metres in length and width. They hang on freestanding walls, commanding the gallery's egg-shaped rotunda.
These abstract paintings are the result of Murillo's meticulous application of oil, graphite, spray paint, oil stick, and even dirt onto canvas and linen. Employing a labour-intensive technique involving repeated scribbling and scraping, Murillo crafts layered surfaces that are richly textured and heavily expressive.
The combination of vivid red backdrops juxtaposed with darker-hued marks in black, blue, and orange offers a striking contrast. Each painting unfolds a rush of intense emotions—passion, anger, excitement, and anguish—perhaps portraying a world torn between extremes.
Murillo will debut his new installation, The flooded garden (2024), at London's Tate Modern from 20 July to 26 August 2024. Inspired by Claude Monet's 'Water Lilies' series (1897–1926), this collaborative installation invites visitors to paint water and waves on a huge wall of canvas in the gallery's Turbine Hall.
