January 2009

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I first saw Oscar Munoz’s Project for a Memorial (2005) in the Robert Storr-curated Venice Biennial in 2007. Projected across five alternating screens, Oscar Munoz’s
hand hurriedly paints water portraits on a hot pavement. Almost as soon as they are created, each face has already started to evaporate.

The installation stood out at the Arsenale amongst the pseudo-political screamers for being simple and unassuming, and the most effective. Both the subtlety of the piece, and the evident dexterity of Oscar Munoz’s lone hand moving in isolation across the screens provokes an unexpected commitment to this video art (unusual, I think, for the medium), as watching the artist at work proves fascinating.

The continuity of his approach is evident in the selection of his work, drawn from the
past decade, by the curators at Iniva for his first solo show in the UK.
The materials are raw and evident, and the techniques consciously tangible.
Somehow, as a result of this rather than in spite of it, Munoz achieves something
beautiful and mysterious. In the process he raises questions about the
nature of artistry, illusion, the iconic, and association and memory.

In Aliento (1996-2002), the spectator is invited to breathe on a series of mirrored silver discs and in the resulting mist the faces of otherwise invisible faces (that have been painted on with grease) are revealed.

The monotone pages from two leading Colombian newspapers are painstakingly
emulated in Paistiempo, 2007. But here, instead of minuscule printed dots (or
screen) that normally make a printed page visible, Munoz, with torturous diligence,
has burnt each dot into the page with a hot pin to create a far from exact yet totally recognisable illusion of text and image.

Munoz alludes to 50 years of political and social turmoil in his native Columbia but, in the great tradition of Latin America, he does this in a way that is both entertaining and awe inspiring. His works are little miracles, apparitions, and acts of worship and extreme devotion.

It is little wonder that since the art world at large discovered Munoz in Venice
last summer he is fast establishing himself as one of Latin America’s most significant living artists.

'Oscar Munoz: Mirror Image' ran from 13 June until 27 July at Iniva.

Pictured above: Narcissus by Oscar Munoz, 2001-02.
Three-minute single screen projection with sound.

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