One of the themes that is closest to the heart of the Colombian-born artist Oscar Murillo concerns the social and economic disparities that have emerged in the postcolonial era. His reflection focuses on the ideas of community and cultural exchange in a globalized world, yes, but strongly focused on material power. In the gallery amphitheater, hanging on freestanding walls like totems, the paintings activate the ovoid space through their surfaces, layered with shades of red, alluding to the anguish of modern man in a world of privilege. Some veils wrap the back of the walls, reflecting the intense work of the painting and transforming them into containers of submerged memory. The same cloth sheets are present in the short film WRAPPED (2024), wrapped and tied on themselves in an elongated shape placed in a plastic box. In the film Murillo kicks the bundle of fabric through the streets of Rome with no apparent destination. This work aims to represent the casual but violent nature of uncertainty and reflects Murillo's interrogative and multifaceted practice.
Within the history of the lapidary arts, the so-called “CABOCHON” cut is considered one of the oldest techniques of cutting gems.
Appreciated since Antiquity, this technique was practiced by craftsmen from China to the Mediterranean basin, via India, because it highlighted the color of the gemstones.
The CABOCHON cut became a signature of ...