A detail from a painting by Oscar Murillo, titled manifestation, dated 2019.

Born in Colombia and based in various locations, 

(b. 1986) is known for an inventive and itinerant practice that encompasses paintings, works on paper, sculptures, installations, actions, live events, collaborative projects, and videos. Taken as a whole, his body of work demonstrates a sustained emphasis on the notion of cultural exchange and the multiple ways in which ideas, languages, and even everyday items are displaced, circulated, and increasingly intermingled. 

Murillo earned his BFA in 2007 from the University of Westminster, London, followed by his MFA in 2012 from the Royal College of Art, London. He joined David Zwirner in 2013 and had his inaugural exhibition, titled 

, at the gallery in New York the following year.

marked his first solo presentation at David Zwirner, London in 2015. On view in 2016, the New York gallery presented 

, a solo exhibition of the artist’s new work. In 2018, 

, presented at David Zwirner’s Hong Kong gallery, was the artist’s first solo show in Asia. In 2019, 

 was held at the gallery’s London location. In 2020, 

 was on view at the gallery’s Paris location and the artist’s seventh solo presentation with David Zwirner, 

In 2022, solo exhibitions of Murillo's work were on view at KM21, The Hague, and the Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri. Additionally, the artist's first solo exhibition in Italy, entitled 

was held at Fondazione Memmo in Rome in 2022. 

Oscar Murillo: A Storm Is Blowing From Paradise

 was on view at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia in Venice in the fall of 2022.

was on view at the Aspen Art Museum. Also in 2019, 

Oscar Murillo: Horizontal Darkness In Search of Solidarity

 was presented at the Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany. Murillo was one of four artists to win the 2019 Turner Prize with the accompanying exhibition on view at Turner Contemporary, Margate, England, through January 2020. Additionally in 2019, a two-person exhibition with Tony Cokes, 

, was exhibited at The Shed, New York. Earlier that year, the dual solo shows 

 were presented at chi K11 art museum, Shanghai, and 

 was on view at Kettle’s Yard at the University of Cambridge, England.

Murillo's works and projects have been the subject of solo exhibitions at prominent institutions worldwide. In 2017, a solo exhibition of the artist’s work was on view at Haus der Kunst and was accompanied by a comprehensive monograph published by the museum in association with David Zwirner Books. In 2017, presentations were also held at CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux and Concorde, Paris, and the Yarat Contemporary Art Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan. In 2015, solo shows were on view at the Museo de Arte de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá; Centro Cultural Daoíz y Velarde, Madrid (part of ArcoColombia 2015); and Artpace, San Antonio, Texas. Also in 2015, as part of Performa 15 in New York, Murillo presented 

, a series of performances and installations that took place over the course of one week at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, an important historical site in downtown Manhattan. In 2014, Murillo’s paintings, sculptures, and video works were presented at 40mcube in Rennes, France, organized as part of the 4th Les Ateliers de Rennes – Biennale d'art contemporain. Also in 2014 a body of work was presented at The Mistake Room in Los Angeles on the occasion of the venue's inaugural exhibition. In 2013, the South London Gallery hosted the artist's first major solo show in the United Kingdom. In 2012, Murillo created paintings on site during a five-week summer residency at the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, which were shown later that year, marking his first solo exhibition in the United States. Other venues that have exhibited his works and projects include the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (2016), Showroom MAMA, Rotterdam (2013), and the Serpentine Gallery, London (2012). In 2023, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, University of Westminster. Most recently, he was the subject of exhibitions at WIELS, Brussels (2024) and WIEN Museum, Austria (2024) and will present new work at the Tate Britain in Summer 2024.

, developed with members of the artist’s family, studio team, and collaborators around the world, canvases are temporarily affixed to classroom desks in selected schools across the globe, encouraging students aged ten to sixteen to create any kind of mark making—drawing, writing, doodling. 

56th Venice Biennale: All the World's Futures

 in 2015. The following year, in 2016, it was presented at the 

3rd Aichi Triennial, Homo Faber: A Rainbow Caravan

 in Japan. In 2017, it was exhibited as part of Murillo’s 

 exhibition at Haus der Kunst in Munich and as part of the group shows 

 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland and 

 at the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev. In 2019, the project had a dedicated exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK. In 2021, the project was presented as part of 

, an exhibition curated by Alia Farid at the Swiss Institute in New York; 

 in the Coachella Valley, California; and 

, organized by Artangel, was on display at the Cardinal Pole Catholic School, London in 2021. In 2023 and 2024, 

was included in Murillo's first solo presentation in Portugal, 

at Javett Art Centre, South Africa, and in the exhibition 

at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, Venice. In 2015, David Zwirner Books published 

, which catalogues the first year of the project and includes reproductions of canvases and photographs of the schools and students involved.

Work by the artist is included in museum collections worldwide, including the Aïshti Foundation, Lebanon; Arts Council Collection, England; The Broad, Los Angeles; Dallas Museum of Art; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Fondazione Prada, Milan; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy; Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, England; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Rubell Museum, Miami; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Seattle Art Museum; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent; Taguchi Art Collection, Tokyo; and the Tate, United Kingdom.

Oscar Murillo in his studio, 2022. Photo by Jason Schmidt

Clara Dublanc is a producer and writer specializing in projects that relate to migrants rights. Dublanc was born in Argentina, raised in Chile, studied in Italy and worked in a number of countries including France, the United States and the United Kingdom. She has a double degree in Literature from the Universities of Bologna and Haute-Alsace, and a Masters in International Relations between Europe and Latin America, also from the University of Bologna. A migrant herself for almost her entire life, she has specialized in European immigration and integration policies researching the changes in national identities within a global society. In 2014 Clara founded Itinerant Works, with the aim to produce high quality projects through the collaboration of social and political activism and the creative industry. She leads all youth programs at the NGO Migrants’ Rights Network and has been collaborating with Oscar Murillo since 2013. She is currently leading the production of 

. In 2013 the South London Gallery published a book on Oscar Murillo with Dublanc’s essay “Us, them and the In Between: Migrants hidden identities”.

Clara Dublanc

Oscar Murillo

Olu Odukoya

Published in an edition of 500 copies on the occasion of Oscar Murillo’s solo exhibition,

 if I was to draw a line, this journey started approximately 400km north of the equator

This publication features images of Murillo’s exhibition alongside photography taken at La Paila in Colombia and in the artist’s studio in London in 2013. There is an accompanying essay by Clara Dublanc, entitled 

Us, Them and the In-Between: Migrants’ Hidden Identity

Oscar Murillo | Books

David Zwirner is an art gallery with locations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Hong Kong. We present physical and online exhibitions, podcasts, books, and more.