Born in Colombia and based in various locations, Oscar Murillo (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’s work conveys a nuanced understanding of the specific conditions of globalization and its attendant state of flux, while maintaining the universality of human experience.

As Emma Enderby notes, Murillo's large-scale canvases embody a "radical synthesis" in both their form and content: "[they relate] to an artistic tradition developed in the twentieth century that is tied to an increasingly collaged urban experience, from street billboards to newspapers."¹ Through an associative working method, Murillo builds up layers of both found and invented imagery and phrases as well as gestural markings in intuitively placed planes, resulting in dense, visually layered surfaces. By combining personal allusions with more universally recognizable references, the paintings become a critical tool for interpreting a world outside of itself—comprising, as Murillo notes, "an accumulation of thought, gesture, discourse, action, and motion."²

In March 2020, Murillo returned to his hometown of La Paila, Colombia, arriving shortly before the country banned travel between cities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Observing the immense impact of the shutdown on the local community, Murillo turned his studio space into a makeshift distribution center, purchasing food and other essential items and working with the local church to distribute the aid to individuals and families in need. Murillo also began working on a group of paintings that directly responded to his experiences and the anxiety caused by the crisis. As the artist notes "I think of these paintings as a manifestation of where I find myself now....The paintings feature the names of foodstuffs like 'chorizo,' 'maiz,' and 'carne,' texts that I have not used since my early paintings. Before, these words represented coming together in celebration. In these works, these texts are partially or totally obliterated—a gesture that reflects my own anxiety, and the precariousness of some of life's most basic necessities at this moment."³

Murillo first presented the paintings for the people of La Paila in ética y estética ("ethics and aesthetics"), an exhibition at Parroquia Santa Barbara, the community's local church, in June 2020. The title comes from a 2016 performance by the artist that also took place in La Paila and featured neighbors and friends within the community marching with hand-painted signs to the statue of Hernando Caicedo (1890-1966), founder of the Colombina candy factory that employs many of the residents within the village. As Murillo writes, "the performance was...part parade and part protest; it celebrates the industry that brought prosperity to my hometown yet simultaneously reminds us how much of the local population, across many generations, has been condemned to low-paying work in service of their powerful employer."⁴ 

The present work belongs to a group of these paintings made upon Murillo's return to London later in the year that respond to a similar motivation.

¹Emma Enderby, "Meaning Belongs to People," in Anna Schneider, ed., Oscar Murillo. Exh. cat. (Munich: Haus der Kunst, 2017), p. 151.
²Artist's statement, July 2018.
³ Artist's statement, June 2020.
⁴ Ibid.