Oscar Murillo, MASSES is on view at WEILS, contemporary art centre in Brussels until 28 April 2024. This exceptional solo show begins with a panorama of large-scale gestural paintings titled Disrupted Frequencies and builds a cartography of mass, liquid, material, and sonic, across a large-scale installation.

The works feature several marking in different blue tones, reminiscent of a storm front. These latest works are the result of Murillo’s current exploration, which began nearly ten years after he launched the extensive project called Frequencies, in which he and his associates sent blank canvases to schools around the globe. These drawings, paintings and illustrations were created for more than six months by students, then submitted to the artist.

“There are several types of frequencies: radio frequencies to tune into, geographical frequencies, economic frequencies. And we have regional differences: in Nepal we talk about altitude, in New York we talk about economy and social issues, in Mumbai there is a clear sedimentation of intensity and time, in Singapore the awareness of a conservative society. In a way these readings are also cliché in relation to how we read or want to believe certain societies are, so the paintings represent my desire to add friction to a project which has been very fluid and organic in its evolution.” Oscar Murillo wrote.

This show marks the culmination of Frequencies and brings the artist into a new phase that sees the collection of canvases and the memories they hold flattened into raw material and compiled as an inspiration for new works, provocatively disrupting ideas of archives and collaborations.

Image: Reinis Lismanis, courtesy the artist. Copyright © Oscar Murillo