‘Oscar Murillo “Unfinished thinking: Paintings and Social Maps” David Zwirner / Paris’ by Lydia Korndoerfer
2026
“It’s my first painting show,” states Oscar Murillo, referring to his new exhibition at David Zwirner in Paris. For an artist whose understanding of the medium reaches far beyond the canvas, the idea of presenting paintings in a more traditional exhibition format is indeed rather unusual. Although painting lies at the center of his practice, it encompasses works on paper, sculpture, installation, actions, live events, and video — often developed through collective production processes involving the public that have become central to his exhibitions and installations. This time, however, the creative process remains undisclosed, or “buried,” as the artist puts it. Yet traces of the multiple collaborations Murillo has cultivated with people around the globe during the past decades, notably in his series “Frequencies” and “Social Mapping,” are omnipresent.
The exhibition “Unfinished thinking: Paintings and Social Maps” features new abstract paintings by the artist, mainly from his series “Disrupted Frequencies,” “Scarred Spirits,” and “manifestation.” These vibrant, large-scale canvases are united by what Murillo describes as the “utterance of love, protest, an emoji, a sea of marks, condensed time — the harnessing of thoughts, energies, spirits, all manifestations in color.”
A single artwork sets the stage for this journey: Nothing gold can stay (portraits of our current selves) (2026) consists of a set of three golden frames fitted with mirrored glass, allowing visitors to see themselves and their surroundings as they look at the painting mounted in the center. The work invites us to reflect not only on its context, but also on our own role within it. On the day of the opening, this meant looking into the mirror and confronting the surreal situation of visiting Paris Art Week shortly after a peak in protests by the young generation against the shortcomings of the French education system. At that moment, the golden glow of this highly romanticized city had given way to the sight of burned-out barricades and ash-strewn streets.
Read more at Flash Art.
