Oscar Murillo, 37, exploded on to the global art scene a decade ago, becoming known as “the 21st-century Basquiat”. Born in Colombia, he moved with his family to London when he was 10. He graduated from the Royal College of Art, and worked as a cleaner and a teacher until 2013 when one of his paintings, with an estimated value of $30,000, sold for $401,000 at auction in New York. In 2019, Murillo – whose work includes paintings, videos and room-sized installations – was one of four artiststo be jointly awarded the Turner prize. He has new work showing as part of To Bend the Ear of the Outer World, a show examining contemporary abstract painting at Gagosian, London.
Where are you living and working these days?
Well, I don’t really have a home. The work began, many years ago, to take me everywhere. And the pandemic really accelerated that, even though things collapsed in terms of movement. But I moved to my village [La Paila] where I grew up in Colombia and I lived there during the entire lockdown. And it was a beautiful experience to live in such a context as an adult for the first time – as opposed to being a tourist. You understand better the social complexities of Colombia and the politics. The crisis that the country has been living for decades.
Did your feelings towards the country change?
Prior to this trip, I’ve always idealised Colombia, and I still do. It’s a pretty magical place where I’m from, but it’s magical precisely because it has its own complexities. It’s not a dormant place: it’s complex and dark. But then nature injects a tremendous amount of beauty in parallel, too. Unmatched by any other place that I know. Also I had time to think about the decade that had just gone: 2020 really marked a decade of non-stop experimentation and travelling.
Also of great personal success. What impact did winning the Turner prize have?
I don’t think about it. It’s funny, because I obviously grew up watching the Turner prize. Like, I remember Martin Creed winning [in 2001]: the lights going on and off. And Jeremy Deller winning [in 2004]. It was just something that felt… so unreachable. But I’m really very grateful to the courage of my fellow nominees – Tai Shani, Helen Cammock and Lawrence [Abu Hamdan] – that we collectivised. Because the Turner prize didn’t want us to collectivise.
You wrote to the judges and asked to share the prize…
Yes, ironically it was the marketing agency that works with the Tate that said: “This will actually continue the legacy of the shock tactic.” Because, of course, it is something that had not been done before, and then everybody will write about it, and so on.
Did that feel empowering: an artist having power over this huge institution?
Of course. And it was a win-win for everybody at the end, because the Tate [which organises the prize] was seen as progressive, but I think they are not progressive at all! And we were able to intervene in the way we did and it was a good thing.
How did you find moving to London when you were 10?
It was a trauma. If you imagine a mango tree getting uprooted from the most beautiful tropical place, and this soil where anything grows… You spit a seed of mango or papaya – I’m serious – and it grows into a tree three weeks later. If you remove that tree and you bring it here to London, and you try and replant that tree – even though you have the most beautiful parks – it’s just not going to grow.
Were there positives?
In the 1990s, the floodgates opened and this country really opened itself up to the world in a way that I am tremendously grateful for. If I had travelled to the US, for example, I don’t think that I would even be an artist. The migrant experience in the US is brutal, it’s dehumanising. It removes the sense of self and worth and dignity from the individual, and everything becomes about money.
You have a new work, Manifestations 2020-2022, in the new exhibition at Gagosian, alongside work from Gerhard Richter and Frank Bowling. How would you describe it?
Well, when I was in Colombia, I wasn’t thinking about art. I wasn’t thinking: “Oh, shit I have to be in the studio.” I was really living. But I had canvas, I had paint, and then very slowly, I got into it. I work on canvases over years. It’s like making really good wine, it takes years.
And the painting gets better over time?
Exactly. Like a very good stew or ramen broth: the richer it is, the better the ramen will be. So I had some material, but in truth, I only had myself: I didn’t have all the baggage or structure that I usually rely on to produce. And I just dived in, in this way that was very unfiltered and this was really the birth of this work, Manifestations.
Outside the world of art, who inspires you?
The Colombian vice-president, Francia Márquez, I think she’s really a hero. She’s of Afro-Colombian descent and she’s not really a politician, she’s an activist. It’s not whether I agree or not with her politics – I mean, I do, because she’s someone who wants to protect nature – but it’s that kids can look at this black woman, who has a similar background to them, effectively running the country. And Colombia being this not just very racist, but also violent country, that takes a lot of bravery.
Does that give you hope for the country?
It gives you hope for humanity.
To Bend the Ear of the Outer World: Conversations on Contemporary Abstract Painting runs at Gagosian’s two Mayfair sites until 25 August (gagosian.com)
I recently had the chance to visit Malta and wander its rocky coastline and old streets with the Fujifilm X-S20 – one of the best mirrorless cameras for enthusiasts – paired with the Fujinon XF 18-55mm F2.8-4.0 R LM OIS lens.
The weather was pretty much wall-to-wall sunshine, which is lovely for a holiday but more of a challenge for photography, especially in the middle of the day. In such bright conditions, I often lean into black and white.
If I had a ludicrous amount of money, then the $9,000 Leica M11 Monochrom (the mono-only version of the Leica M11) with a moderate-wide lens would be a great option for black-and-white street photography. But Fujifilm X-series cameras like the X-S20 are a compelling option, too, for a fraction of the cost.
Amid the tourist-filled streets, I got to grips with the Fujifilm X-S20. Even though it’s a really small camera, you get a generous handgrip, a decent electronic viewfinder, and a flip-out touchscreen. Both are handy for composing street photography in bright sunlight: I could tilt the screen to an angle that minimizes glare or use the viewfinder instead. That flip-out screen is also handy for shooting discreetly from the hip.
And then there’s Fujifilm’s Film Simulation modes that digitally recreate the look of Fujifilm’s celebrated 35mm film stock. One of those digital looks is Acros, which faithfully recreates the rich monochrome Fujifilm Acros 100 film, first introduced to the X-Series cameras alongside the Fujifilm X-Pro 2 in 2016.
For a digital look, Acros is super-authentic. Even though the simulation can be applied post-capture to raw images, I like to select it in-camera, so I can see what I’m getting as I move about looking to encapsulate the feeling of my surroundings.
Depending on what the shooting mode dial is set to, the customizable dial on the top left of the X-S20 scrolls through the 11 Film Simulation modes for quick selection. The X-S20 introduced Auto-Film Simulation mode, which assesses the scene and selects a look for you. It tends to choose different color looks rather than monochrome, but that can be changed easily via the top-left dial instead.
I really like the look of the X-S20’s Acros Film Simulation. The look can be manually adjusted with different color filters, but even without manual adjustment, the rich tonality is really pleasing. I’ll let you be the judge from the gallery above, but I’m a fan and would happily leave the X-S20 in its Acros Film Simulation when shooting in the sun. It’s a compelling option for street photography.
“The bowler hat poses no surprise,” Rene Magritte said in 1966. “It is a headdress that is not original. The man with the bowler is just middle-class man in his anonymity.” When the American photographer Rodney Smith took this picture, three decades later, he could be certain that his audience would understand the other association of the headgear: as a shorthand for the surrealism that Magritte had made his signature. Smith’s image is less a homage than a riff on the Belgian’s art. He placed his trio of faceless bowler-wearers in among the vines of Reims in the champagne region of France. His middle-class men with their matching shears seem more likely to be trimming suburban privet hedges after work than adrift in vineyards that stretch to the horizon. Where to begin?
Smith loved that tension between formality and play. He started out as a photojournalist, having been taught by the Great Depression-era photographer Walker Evans at Yale. His first book,In the Land of Light, saw him travelling in Israel in the mid-1970s, taking haunting portraits of working people. As his style subsequently developed, however, he became interested in creating fashion images in a high style, including work for Ralph Lauren and for magazines including Vanity Fair. He often employed accessories in these pictures, with which he might play elegant tricks with earnestness: butterfly nets, umbrellas – as well as bowlers – became nods towards earlier decades of fun.
Rodney Smith died in 2016, aged 68. A new retrospective book, A Leap of Faith, collects the lasting images of a long career. In his introduction, Graydon Carter, Smith’s long-time friend and editor at Vanity Fair, notes how: “A Rodney Smith photograph can be whimsical but solemn, composed but candid, still but full of movement… desperate but funny.”
Rodney Smith: A Leap of Faith, with an essay by Paul Martineau, is published by Getty Publications (£55)
On a hot summer day, what’s cooler than exploring local Tampa Bay museums? If you have a library card, you can take advantage of the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative’s Museum Pass Program.
Thanks to PPLC’s partnerships with area museums, you can get a free family admission to Dunedin History Museum, Florida CraftArt, The Florida Holocaust Museum, Great Explorations Children’s Museum, Imagine Museum, The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts and in Tampa, the Henry B. Plant Museum and Tampa Bay History Center.
“PPLC’s Museum Pass Program began in 2015. Last year in 2022, we gave out 10,000 passes (and up to five people could use each pass) so it’s more than 10,000 people who are enjoying the program. Beginning on June 1, we’re adding more museums to the program, including The Glazer Children’s Museum of Tampa and The Collection on Palmetto (antique automobiles and engines in Clearwater),” says Cheryl Morales, PPLC executive director.
Library card holders can borrow a free family pass to these institutions for seven days. Each PPLC member library and its branches have two museum passes from each museum partner (except for the Henry B. Plant Museum which has a total of six passes countywide).
Passes are available for in-person check out on a first-come, first-served basis. Passes are not renewable or holdable. You can use the program as many times as you want, but you can only use one museum pass at a time. Passes can only be checked out by adult PPLC cardholders in good standing. Admission is valid for up to two adults and three children, under the age of 18, from the same household.
To see what passes are available and at what museum, go to https://pplc.us/museums/. When you check out a pass, the library will give you a check-out receipt to take to the museum. Present the library check-out receipt to the museum staff for entry; they will retain the receipt. Passes will automatically be removed from a borrower’s record after seven days.
The Pinellas Public Library Cooperative serves Pinellas County residents in member cities and unincorporated Pinellas County. The cooperative office provides coordination of programs, funding, and marketing for the 14 member libraries, offering classes, audio books, E-books, DVDs, events and more for children, teens, adults and seniors. You can even borrow a ukulele at some branches, take a crafts class, play games (mahjong, Dungeons & Dragons, Scrabble), join a book club, learn to research your genealogy or pursue a writing dream. To find out what’s happening at your library by month, visit https://pplc.us/program-guide/.
To obtain a card at the public libraries a patron must be a Pinellas County resident or property owner and provide a valid Florida driver’s license, Florida identification card, or picture ID with their name and current address. You can do it online at some libraries, but if you apply in person at one of our libraries, you will receive your card immediately. https://pplc.us/get-a-library-card/.
Dunedin History Museum — 349 Main St., Dunedin. Dunedin Museum contains approximately 2,000 artifacts, 2,500 photographs, and a library containing 200 volumes of local and Florida history. Included in the collection is an electronic archive of the Dunedin Times Newspaper, from 1924 through 1965. Visit www.dunedinmuseum.org.
Florida CraftArt — 501 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. FCA is a member-supported, nonprofit organization presenting fine craft art by more than 220 Florida artists in the 2,500-square-foot Florida Artists Gallery and in the adjacent exhibition gallery. Visit floridacraftart.org.
The Florida Holocaust Museum — 55 Fifth St. S., St. Petersburg. The Florida Holocaust Museum honors the memory of millions of innocent men, women and children who suffered or died in the Holocaust. Visit www.thefhm.org.
Great Explorations Children’s Museum — 1925 Fourth St. N., St. Petersburg. For over 35 years, Great Explorations has been Tampa Bay’s preeminent children’s museum supporting practical learning applications through a proven creative curriculum. Visit greatex.org.
Imagine Museum — 1901 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. Imagine Museum features a spectacular collection of contemporary glass art from around the world. Experience the evolution of the studio glass art movement of artists who have turned it into contemporary masterpieces of color, motion, and light. Visit www.imaginemuseum.com.
The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art — 150 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. The James Museum’s art includes paintings, sculpture, jewelry, and artifacts by 20th and 21st century artists. The collection is robust in contemporary figurative Western paintings, created since 1980, that feature 19th century historical narratives. Visit thejamesmuseum.org.
Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art — 600 E Klosterman Road, Tarpon Springs. The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art is a modern and contemporary art museum featuring works from the 20th and 21st century masters as well as contemporary artists working in Florida and the Gulf Coast regions. Visit leeparattner.org.
Museum of Fine Arts — 255 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg. From a collection covering almost 5,000 years of civilization in thousands of objects extending from antiquity to present, to fascinating traveling exhibitions, to exciting events in the heart of downtown’s scenic waterfront, the MFA is here for your discovery. Visit mfastpete.org.
Safety Harbor Museum & Cultural Center — 329 Bayshore Blvd. S., Safety Harbor. The Safety Harbor Museum and Cultural Center is proud to offer a multitude of activities that celebrate the history of Safety Harbor while welcoming the growing arts community. Visit www.cityofsafetyharbor.com/573/Museum-Cultural-Center.
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| A Photo by AI, created by James Duong. |
The future is firmly looking towards a high-tech revolution, with AI recently becoming a bigger part of human life and creativity.
As with any new technology, there are concerns about its impact, and is now posing big questions, from the technical to the ethical, in photography.
Some experts have said that instead of being afraid of AI, sometimes condemned as a perfect tool for plagiarism, artists should learn and grasp the technology.
Dương Quốc Bình, alias James Duong, director of Photojournalism Concentration at the Institute of Journalism, Academy of Journalism and Communication, highlighted the outstanding benefits of high-tech digitalisation, including AI in photography.
High-tech and digital advances applied in photography offered more chances for people to access photography, allowing them to create beautiful images that were once impossible to achieve, he said.
“Although high-tech and digitalisation with the AI application and interference has stirred an increasing wave of controversial opinions in the creative art, it is obvious that they are helping improve the popularisation of photography,” Bình told Việt Nam News.
Bình was also keen to point out the social role of AI.
“We cannot deny the positive effects of high-tech digitalisation and AI on social activities and education. Let’s return to hundreds of years ago, when photography was just a very strange idea to humans. We did not have a clue about creating images until a camera was invented in the early 19th century,” he said.
“From complicated manual darkroom techniques, through generations of technological revolution, we now have many types of high-tech and digital cameras that help photographers create wonderful works.”
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| A Photo by AI, created by James Duong. |
However, the expert said that while bringing more opportunities for photographers, both professional and amateur, AI tools were hindering participation in real life.
“Instead of going outside to catch a sight by themselves in the reality of life, AI tools now just create works without any real emotion or experience,” he said. “The abuse or misuse of AI might also lead photographers to destroy visual values.”
Artist Nguyễn Xuân Khánh, a self-taught photographer, recently told the Nhân Dân (The People) weekly about the technological effects on the quality of photographs and how to distinguish technological mastery and dependence.
Taking his art works of the Bayon Temple in Cambodia as an example, Khánh said when the photos were taken focusing on the smiling faces of the four Gods on the statues, the reflection of light from the stone made it hard for him to highlight them well.
“In this situation, I think it is necessary to take advantage of technology. However, to what extent does it interfere or enhance the value of the photo? The question depends on the photographer’s perception,” Khánh said.
He said that to distinguish between mastery and dependence on technology in photography, each photographer needed to look deeply into his or her personal desires when taking photos.
“What picture can satisfy an idea? Can the photo reflect what inside his mind, or is it simply just for showing off good machinery or technology. The answer can only be determined if they can know how to choose the right techniques and technological tools,” Khánh said.
According to Khánh, young people today come to photography quickly and take advantage of new technology in photography as soon as possible.
“Vietnamese people are technically keen. But photography is an art, and we have to give ourselves a stronger foundation with knowledge and feelings. Refining beauty from existing reality is an extraordinary distillation,” Khánh said.
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| FRUITS OF DIGITAL LABOUR: A photo suspected of applying AI shows an unbelievable fruit-laden small mango tree. Photo cuoi.tuoitre.vn |
The development of diverse forms of expression, including high-tech and AI tools in photography, will expand the scope of reflection, enrich content and beautify ideas in a photograph, enabling photographers to do great things once thought to be impossible in the language of images.
Trương Văn Vị, a photojournalist, said he welcomed AI as it can support photographers in their creations.
“For example, editing and finishing a photo previously needed many processes using a computer mouse. Editing some photos even take days. Today, AI can help get it done with just one click and complete it within minutes,” Vị said.
“AI helps a lot in the field of modelling and fashion photography. The beautifying processes such as ‘leg pulling and face slimming’ had to be done manually before, but now with AI, editors only need a few mouse drags to make the photos perfect.
“Instead of going to the scene to take pictures, with AI photographers can now take pictures using computer commands. What photo do you want? Just describe it, and AI will find and create exactly what you need.”
However, Vị also warned that the use of AI in photography could easily mislead viewers or create fake images. Moreover, he added that AI-generated photographic works might not be able to truthfully reflect the reality and the soul of a real person or a real character.
To minimize the side effects of new technologies in photography, including the use of AI to mislead viewers, Vị appealed to photographers to only use AI to beautify a photo taken by themselves.
“Don’t sit at home describing a photo and let AI create 100 per cent of the work,” he said.
| A photo by AI, created by James Duong |
Speaking of the potential negative side effects of AI in photography, Bình said that it was really hard to prevent, and suggested authorities consider regulations and rules for the use of AI in the sector.
“Actually, such rules may only be for the professional photography community to try and limit some of the wrongdoings in AI. In some cases, it is impossible to control its abuse and misuse, especially among amateurs,” Bình said.
AI has revolutionised the way we think about photography, but with or without AI, the development of each photographer’s mindset and his or her responsibility for the photos is the most important factor to give value to the work. VNS
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Has there ever been a small state with as much money being invested in the arts as is the case in Arkansas right now? I can’t think of one.
We start our statewide tour in Bentonville, where the already spectacular Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is increasing the size of its current facilities by 50 percent. Almost 100,000 square feet are being added to the 200,000-square-foot architectural gem, increasing Crystal Bridges’ capacity for exhibitions, educational and outreach initiatives, cultural programming and community events.
At the time the expansion was announced, Crystal Bridges founder Alice Walton said: “It’s wonderful to see how our community, our region and travelers to Bentonville from across the nation and around the world have embraced Crystal Bridges and enjoyed the experience of being surrounded by art, nestled in nature and immersed in Moshe Safdie’s architecture.
“With the number of visitors we welcome annually, it’s timely to enlarge our building and make sure more people can access these offerings. Having Safdie Architects expand on the original Crystal Bridges design with this addition will create a unified experience for enjoying art, nature and architecture.”
Crystal Bridges has had more than five million visitors since opening on Nov. 11, 2011. Safdie said: “It has been a joy to see Crystal Bridges’ enthusiastic reception by the public. We are honored to be back and working with the museum to realize a series of facilities that will enrich the diversity of the museum experience.”
Meanwhile, The Momentary, Crystal Bridges’ sister institution in Bentonville, continues to gain momentum. The contemporary art museum, which is in a former Kraft manufacturing facility, had the misfortune of opening just weeks before the pandemic began in early 2020. Visitor numbers have soared during the past two years, however.
In 2014, Crystal Bridges curators met with 1,000 working artists for a survey of American art titled “State of the Art.” After an exhibition based on the survey closed, museum officials began planning The Momentary.
In Little Rock, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts opened in MacArthur Park in late April and already is receiving rave reviews from across the country. Forbes called it “America’s most inviting art museum.”
Chadd Scott wrote for Forbes: “Inviting. That best describes the new Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock, renamed and reopened following a four-year, $150-plus million renovation. The refreshed museum is bright, open and airy. Artworks on view are big, colorful and uplifting.
“Featured are striking masterpieces from modern art history’s top names, particularly the Impressionists, who remain the most inviting artists to much of the museum-going public. Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Pierre Auguste Renoir–fine examples of each are on display.”
Scott wrote that the presentation at AMFA seems to say to visitors: “Come on in. Look around. This is art. It’s for you.”
“There are no ropes or alarms or barriers placed in front of the art,” he wrote. “Visitors were smiling. Talking. Joking. The building and installation fostered that. Supporting this invitation, admission to AMFA is free. Parking is free. The museum front and back intentionally open onto shaded park space, welcoming passerby to pop in, or giving youngsters a quick exit to run around and play outside.
“The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. I am unaware of any other art museum in the country with that many extended nighttime hours, AMFA recognizing working people should be afforded the opportunity to see art as well, and not just on the weekend.”
MacArthur Foundation “genius award” winner Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects unified the old Arkansas Arts Center with modern additions. She worked closely with fellow genius Kate Orff of SCAPE Landscape Architecture, the first landscape architect to ever win a MacArthur “genius award.”
“Sustainability was a key consideration throughout,” Scott writes. “Most prominently, the distinctive design of the roof shades and cools the building, reducing energy use while also catching stormwater and channeling runoff into a series of native plant rain gardens intentionally placed and planted to filter and disperse the water and attract pollinators and migratory birds.
“The landscape design also incorporated the planting of 250 native trees that will mature to combine with existing trees on site to form a shade canopy covering the grounds.”
Between Crystal Bridges and AMFA, a state of just more than 3 million residents now has two world-class art museums. That alone is impressive, especially in a place where a top tourist attraction when I was a boy was a theme park based on the state’s hillbilly image. But there’s more going on when it comes to the arts in Arkansas. A lot more.
In the emerging Little Rock neighborhood now being branded as East Village, plans are moving forward for the Artspace Windgate campus. Windgate Foundation officials began meeting with artists and civic leaders in 2018 to determine if there needed to be a live-work space for artists.
A four-story building will be constructed. It will provide 60 units of affordable housing for artists and their families, 10 artist-in-residence studios, event space, gallery space and about 16,000 square feet of commercial space.
“Providing the creative community in central Arkansas with a place to gather, live and work is essential to the growth of our culture as well as to our economy,” says the Windgate Foundation’s Robyn Horn, who also is overseeing grants for arts facilities on college campuses across the state.
Just down the street in East Village, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will build the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center. It will include a grand hall for rehearsals and concerts, multiple practice spaces, music classrooms, a streaming studio, climate-controlled instrument storage and additional flexible space.
Among Windgate’s campus initiatives is the Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. The foundation made a matching gift of $20 million to build the facility, which will serve music, theater and visual arts students with classroom, studio, rehearsal and performance spaces.
The center covers more than 100,000 square feet. UCA President Houston Davis says: “There are going to be a lot of options for what we can do with our program in this beautiful building. Our program’s trajectory is going to elevate tremendously.”
That could be said for the entire state’s trajectory. It’s truly a new day in Arkansas.
