The artist Oscar Murillo, who was born in Colombia, at his one-room studio in East London. Photo by Andrew Testa for the New York Times. Image via nytimes.com. |
Oscar Murillo Keeps His Eyes on the Canvas
Text | Carol Vogel for the New York Times
Published | March 14, 2014
Before a
standing-room crowd at Christie’s here last month, the bidding opened on an
abstract painting filled with black scratching, “Burrito” scrawled across the
top in bright yellow. The auctioneer announced that there were already 17
telephone and absentee buyers vying for the canvas, made three years ago by
Oscar Murillo, who just turned 28.
While Mr.
Murillo is little known outside clubby contemporary art circles, and he has his
share of skeptics, his fans have called him “the 21st-century Basquiat.” That
night, after fierce competition, “Untitled (burrito)” sold for $322,870, more
than six times its high $49,000 estimate. Only two years ago, Mr. Murillo, who
was born in Colombia, was waking up at 5 a.m. to clean office buildings to
cover his expenses at the Royal College of Art in London. Now, he is
represented by David Zwirner, one of the world’s most prestigious galleries,
and when a choice canvas comes up at auction or through private sale, it can
fetch more than $400,000.
The story
of how a young artist like Mr. Murillo soared from struggling student to art
star — courted by blue-chip dealers, inundated by curators requesting a work
for a museum exhibition or biennial — reflects the way investing in
contemporary art has become a gamble, like stocks and real estate. Collecting
works by rising artists like Lucien Smith, Jacob Kassay, Sterling
Ruby or Mr. Murillo is a competitive sport among a growing number of
collectors betting on future stars.
On a
recent stop in New York, Mr. Murillo sat in an office in one of David Zwirner’s
Chelsea galleries, talking over plans for his first show there, an ambitious
combination of performance and installation opening on April 24. Wearing
scruffy jeans, a T-shirt and a black baseball cap, this usually laid-back
artist bristled when asked what it was like to be so in demand, knowing how
fickle the art world is. “I don’t like to think about it,” he replied, staring
soberly at a cup of tea.
For Mr.
Murillo, celebrity cuts both ways. He reluctantly conceded that the attention
is flattering and something that hundreds of young artists could only dream of.
But he knows that being thrust in the spotlight at such a young age is risky.
“This is a
market hungry for the players of the future,” Allan Schwartzman, a Manhattan
art adviser, said. “But almost any artist who gets that much attention so early
on in his career is destined for failure. The glare is simply too bright for
them to evolve.”
Like his
parents, who work as cleaners and moved to London from La Paila, a tiny town in
Colombia, when Mr. Murillo was 10, he is a tireless worker, and his quiet charm
and relentless ambition helped fuel his popularity. Even when he was a student,
collectors and friends were so convinced of his future success that they would
occasionally pay $2,000 for a painting. Living in East London, which has a
vibrant arts scene, he often worked as an installer for the neighborhood’s
small galleries and met players like Rodolphe von Hofmannsthal years before
that dealer joined David Zwirner.
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