11 Nov - 16 Apr 17
The major solo exhibition by Colombian-born artist Oscar Murillo continues the artist's engagement with materials as a means of exploring wider conceptual dialogues surrounding structures of production within a specific geographic context. A core aspect of the show is the artist's collaboration with a community of skilled workers in Sheki, a historic town in Northern Azerbaijan, which was an important post on the ancient Silk Route. Most of the elements in the exhibition were sourced from Sheki Silk Factory, which today operates at a fraction of its Soviet period scale, when it used to employ around 7000 workers.
Murillo collaborated with local artisans to create a series of large-scale works based on a medieval stained glass technique still practiced in the region and found in Sheki's famous Khan's Palace. The artist replaces the delicate material of glass with scraps of discarded metal from the factory yard, thereby playing with the original aesthetic and adding a political dimension to the poetic oriental design.
Murillo frequently explores issues of community and migration drawing upon his own cultural heritage and that of others. Through a meaningful collaboration with the Sheki silk factory and the town's community, these discourses manifest themselves through both the materials he chooses to use and a revival of the factory as a site of production.
With special thanks to Tunc LLC and Marita Terriquez.