Wiels | EN

Oscar Murillo’s works ooze with material textures. Fabric drenched in black oil paint unfurls from buildings and spreads across floors; rocks scatter; swathes of canvas gather dust and move from place to place, forming distinct patinas before being stitched and furiously scored by paints and pigments. In his solo exhibition Masses, on view at WIELS, we find strewn and splintered church pews, scattered plastic garden chairs, and canvases once left to collect scribbles and graffiti on school desks. Murillo’s materials, each carefully selected by the artist, act as witnesses, gathering stories they only partially disclose to us. In this lecture, London-based writer Anna T. Pigott will touch upon some of the major series by Oscar Murillo, giving context to a few of their many possible readings. 

BIO

Anna T. Pigott is a London-based writer and producer working in contemporary art and community projects. Pigott is particularly interested in non-hierarchical and participatory forms of knowledge-production. Aside from her work in contemporary art she has been involved in running the Feminist Library in London for over ten years and is a trustee of Babel's Blessing, a grassroots language project that works with refugees and migrants. Holding an M.A. in Comparative Literary Studies from Goldsmiths, University of London, Pigott has worked with Oscar Murillo and written on his work for a number of years. She is co-editor of the publication Oscar Murillo: By Means of a Detour (Koenig Books, 2021).