The Origin of Illusion
09 Jun 2010Maddox Arts was proud to present the work of Oscar Muñoz at PINTA art fair in London (June 3rd – 6th ). The Colombian artist created a new video installation, 'The Origin of Illusion', for PINTA's selected projects space curated by Pablo León de la Barra. Curator Ramiro Camelo offers his interpretation of Muñoz's installation:
"His practice continuously engages with images, memory, presences, absences, as well as questioning how systems of mechanical reproduction and vision such as photography and video determine the way we represent the world, but also the complexity and politics of aesthetics of the moving image. Muñoz's video installations are consistently captivating and lead to unanimous popular admiration with critical recognition."
"Muñoz's formal and material vocabulary is deceptively austere. He employs commonplace objects: mirrors, bath curtains, and toilet basins, investing them with renewed and complex aesthetic meaning. There is always something intensely poetic and transcendental in the way Muñoz dwells on details."
"For example, in "Fountain" (Fuente) or 'The Origin of Illusion" (El Origen de la ilusion) - this title "Fountain" might acknowledge a homage to Marcel Dumchamp's foundational 'ready made'- Muñoz's quest for establishing certain clues on the performance, evanescence, fixation and volatility of an image, through the metaphor of the shifting nature of a water stream contained in a pair of hands. One may wonder if water as everyday images belong to everyone and no one. In this scenario Muñoz constantly invokes water's mutability and elusiveness. Somehow he invites us to watch the stream and fall into a comfortable winsome cycle."
