The artist on lockdown back in Colombia, sharing the Turner prize, and his new political hero
Oscar Murillo, 37, exploded on to the global art scene a decade ago, becoming known as “the 21st-century Basquiat”. Born in Colombia, he moved with his family to London when he was 10. He graduated from the Royal College of Art, and worked as a cleaner and a teacher until 2013 when one of his paintings, with an estimated value of $30,000, sold for $401,000 at auction in New York. In 2019, Murillo – whose work includes paintings, videos and room-sized installations – was one of four artists to be jointly awarded the Turner prize. He has new work showing as part of To Bend the Ear of the Outer World, a show examining contemporary abstract painting at Gagosian, London.
Where are you living and working these days?
Well, I don’t really have a home. The work began, many years ago, to take me everywhere. And the pandemic really accelerated that, even though things collapsed in terms of movement. But I moved to my village [La Paila] where I grew up in Colombia and I lived there during the entire lockdown. And it was a beautiful experience to live in such a context as an adult for the first time – as opposed to being a tourist. You understand better the social complexities of Colombia and the politics. The crisis that the country has been living for decades.
