Exhibition

Oscar Murillo: A balancing act between collapse and spirit

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Past

October 9—November 16, 2024

Opening Reception

Wednesday, October 9, 6—8 PM

Location

London

24 Grafton Street

London W1S 4EZ

Artist

Oscar Murillo

Oscar Murillo, Telegram, 2013–2024. Photo by Tim Bowditch and Reinis Lismanis. © Oscar Murillo

Darkness a place of radical freedom

Markings, reading and sending telegrams… constellations of thoughts and gestures

Untraceable landscapes. Concealed - irrational!

Fields of despair—scarred.

The playhouse of imperiled spirits

As our world becomes ever more hostile I must go home and be safe—I send to you these telegrams—telegrams of sympathy.

bruised and bleeding.

These words started with the untimely departure of my mentor Okwui Enwezor, in 2019—it was also the first time I thought of Manifestations. Manifestations now need to be Protests…

A decade ago on the eve of All the World’s Futures we spoke of The Artist as Producer in Times of Crisis, a devastating crisis.

We miss you

—Oscar Murillo, July 2024

Explore

Installation view, Oscar Murillo: A balancing act between collapse and spirit, David Zwirner, London, 2024

Installation view, Oscar Murillo: A balancing act between collapse and spirit, David Zwirner, London, 2024

“Let’s work hard in unity as human beings in this world. I am reminded of what the American entrepreneur and astronaut, Jared Isaacman, said as he looked down on the Earth from a privately funded space capsule: ‘Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do...But from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.’ I recognize the inherent irony in borrowing the words of someone like Isaacman, a person of such tremendous privilege that he could finance his own ticket to space. But there is something vulnerable in seeing the earth from that great distance, seeing it abstractly, with all of its flaws smoothed away. From far away, he was able to cut straight to the point.”

—Oscar Murillo, October 2024

Oscar Murillo, manifestation, 2023–2024 (details)

Oscar Murillo, (untitled) anterior chamber, 2024 (detail)

Installation view, Oscar Murillo: A balancing act between collapse and spirit, David Zwirner, London, 2024

Installation view, Oscar Murillo: A balancing act between collapse and spirit, David Zwirner, London, 2024

 

Installation view, Oscar Murillo: A balancing act between collapse and spirit, David Zwirner, London, 2024

Installation view, Oscar Murillo: A balancing act between collapse and spirit, David Zwirner, London, 2024

 

“A song to a tearful garden is a commemorative gesture, an expanding altarpiece to my friend Jaqueline Soto.”

—Oscar Murillo, October 2024

Performance view, Oscar Murillo, The flooded garden, Tate Modern, 2024. Photo by Reinis Lismanis. Courtesy the artist. © Oscar Murillo

Performance view, Oscar Murillo, The flooded garden, Tate Modern, 2024. Photo by Reinis Lismanis. Courtesy the artist. © Oscar Murillo

 

Time-lapse view of Oscar Murillo, The flooded garden, Tate Modern, 2024. Video by Tim Bowditch, courtesy the artist. © Oscar Murillo

Jacqueline Soto, (untitled) the peril of distant dreams, 2019 (detail) © Jacqueline Soto

Oscar Murillo, fields of spirits, 2023 (detail)

Oscar Murillo, fields of spirits, 2023 (detail)

 

Inquire about works by Oscar Murillo