Oscar Murillo

Oscar Murillo’s work is situated – or perhaps un-situated and unfixed – within the notion of cultural and geographical displacement. Through the scope of his own biography, ancestry and migratory passage, Murillo traces mercantile histories, contemporary trade procedures and the global exchange of people and goods. With the context of capitalism, globalisation, neoliberalism and trade seeping into every brushstroke or sculpture made from corn and clay, the realisation of Murillo’s artworks is an act of labour and accumulation which mirrors its own subject matter. His dynamic paintings are a representation of a layering process, of cumulative mark-making that can be considered a documentation of their own conception and an archive of the artist’s relationship with his materials. ...

Founded in 2011, Carlos/Ishikawa’s program is dedicated to considered and ambitious exhibitions that offer diverse artists’ perspectives on structural, socio-cultural, and political questions. The program focuses on international artists with often wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary and experimental practices. There is an interest within the program of challenging the aesthetic conventions of conceptual art, and a focus on art that is able to operate on an affective, emotional level as well as a rigorous intellectual one. The gallery has offered many artists their first solo show, many of whom have gone on to receive recognition internationally. ...