Oscar Muñoz (artist)

In 2006, Muñoz founded a cultural center and art residency program in Cali, Colombia called Lugar a Dudas (Space for Doubts). This art center has become a place for young artists to gather in order to work through ideas, as well as to participate in a dialogue and public debate about art and politics.

In this work, a video is played which shows a hand using water to paint a portrait onto hot cement, however, the water continually evaporates before the portrait can be completed. This work plays on Muñoz's impulse to keep memory alive, and the frustration that can come along with that attempt. Because the portrait never takes on a definite form, the viewer is forced to try to remember and reconstruct the image in their mind, and so they are only able to take away an idea of it. This idea can change in the mind of the viewer, since it doesn't have a strong or permanent structure. Muñoz explained in an interview something he particularly liked about this work, which was that "the idea that something that generally functions with the ephemeral, with the temporal, with the instant, can have a lasting effect, like an intense emotional experience, that transcends the actual experience of the work." This work was eventually expanded upon to become Proyecto para un Memorial (Project for a Memorial), which was presented to the public sphere in 2005.

Muñoz has several works in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, including "Untitled" from the series Dried Narcissus (Narciso seco) (1996) a screenprint on acrylic, and The Game of Probabilities (2007) a series of chromogenic color prints.

Later on in the 1980s and 1990s, Colombia was plagued by wars between feuding drug cartels and the Colombian government, which acted as inspiration for several of Muñoz's pieces during this time. One such piece that came out of this was Ambulatorio: an aerial photograph of Cali printed on a sheet of shattered glass, which viewers can walk on, looking down on the city. As the viewers walk over the photograph, the glass continues to crack under their feet, bringing in the senses of sound and touch. Muñoz explained that this work was inspired by a bombing that had taken place in Cali during the violence of the 1980s and 1990s. After the bomb had exploded, Muñoz was able to walk through the city and in the process became fascinated by the fragments of glass he saw scattered everywhere, some of which had become encrusted into the pavement.

Muñoz's career began in the 1970s, with his first art exhibition being held in 1971 in Ciudad Solar (Solar City) - a new alternative art space, which was considered to be one of the first of its kind to exist in Colombia, and was also a major milestone in the history of the arts in Cali. The artistic style in Muñoz's earliest works (which were presented in this space) was heavily influenced by what was going on internationally in the art scene, and as a result his works were concerned with photorealism and hyper-realism. In addition, the social and political issues in Colombia provided him with a subject for his art.

During the early 1970s, Colombia experienced a massive urban expansion due to rural dwellers migrating to the cities. The mass movement of people resulted in the emergence of slums in order to accommodate the large influx of people. This urban phenomena taking place in Colombia drew Muñoz's interest, and so his first series, Inquilinatos (Tenements), focused on the social issues and changes taking place in urban life as a result of the recent urban growth. This first series of his was exhibited in the Ciudad Solar, and it was through this exhibition that he first began to gain attention for his work.

The Inquilinatos drawings were some of the earliest works Muñoz produced. These hyper-realistic charcoal drawings depicted several large mansions originally inhabited by important families on the Main Plaza of the downtown area of Cali, Colombia. During the major urban expansion in Cali in the 1970s, these mansions were abandoned by the important families, and the rooms were subsequently rented out to other rural families during a time of extreme overcrowding. Muñoz employed the use of photographic documentation in order to create these works. In these drawings, Muñoz hoped to introduce and convey the social and urban issues as well as changes that were happening as a result of the extreme urban expansion taking place in the city. Through these works he also attempted to re-contextualize and assimilate an international artistic tendency of that time period to one that fit Colombia. His drawings were first displayed in the Ciudad Solar (a groundbreaking new alternative art space in Cali), and it was through these pictures that Muñoz first began to receive attention for his work.

Oscar Muñoz (born 1951) is a Colombian visual artist. He is known as one of the most significant contemporary visual artists in his country, and his work has also gained international recognition. Most of his art is concerned with the idea of representation, and his choice of art medium moves freely between photography (photorealism), printmaking, graphite drawing, installation art, audiovisual media, and sculpture. He also explores how images relate to memory, loss, and the precarious nature of human life.

Muñoz was born in 1951 in Popayán, Colombia and grew up in Cali, Colombia. His family was a middle class family with a strong inclination towards the arts, and his parents encouraged the artistic practices of their children. As a child, Muñoz was attracted to drawing, and considered it one of his favorite pastimes. He began taking classes at the Academia de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Academy) in Cali (a school of visual arts, ballet, and theater) when he was still in high school, and the year after he finished high school he completed the visual arts study program (early 1970s).