![Oscar Muñoz, Editor solitario [Solitary Editor]; still, 2011, Blu-Ray video projection on a table with sound, 78 47/64 x 31 1/2 in. Collection of the artist (photo: courtesy of the artist)](https://blantonmuseum.org.staging3.juiceboxint.com/app/uploads/2024/10/Editor-Solitario-Still-1536x864-1-1440x810.jpg)
Oscar Muñoz: Invisibilia is the first retrospective of this Colombian artist’s work in the United States.
Since the late 1980s, Muñoz has sought to reinvent the medium of photography through non-traditional materials and techniques. While he doesn’t consider himself a photographer, Muñoz strives to “hacer memoria”—“make memory”—in his works by turning photographic processes inside out: “I am interested in the instant and the processes that occur so that an image can become consolidated, or not, in memory.” Philosophical at their core, Muñoz’s artworks frequently use ephemeral materials like light, water, fire, and dust to illustrate the fragility of an image as a metaphor for the fragility of life. Although the images Muñoz creates often change or disappear, they stay transfixed in our minds.
Invisibilia spans five decades of Muñoz’s radical career and includes approximately 40 of his most evocative works, in which he combines photographic processes with drawing, printmaking, installation, video, sculpture, and interactive elements. Long overdue, this exhibition invites U.S. audiences to experience the invisibilia behind Muñoz’s poetic and innovative practice with works rarely seen outside of Colombia.
Chronology / Cronología
We are delighted to share a chronological framework that seeks to contextualize Oscar Muñoz’s work in relation to key artistic, cultural, and historical events that have taken place in Cali (where he resides) and in Colombia at large since the late 1940s.
Researched and written by Florencia Bazzano, Assistant Curator of Latin American Art, Blanton Museum of Art.
Oscar Muñoz,”Línea del destino [Line of Destiny]”; still, 2006, single-channel video without sound, 2 min. Denver Art Museum: Gift of Polly and Mark Addison (photo: courtesy of the artist)
Oscar Muñoz, “Distopía [Dystopia]”; still, 2015, single-channel FHD video without sound, 15 min. Collection of the artist (photo: courtesy of the artist)
Installation view Phoenix Art Museum, 2021, “Oscar Muñoz, Cortinas de baño [Shower Curtains],” 1985–1986, acrylic on plastic, nine curtains, variable dimensions. Collection of the artist (photo: courtesy of Phoenix Art Museum)
Oscar Muñoz,”Re/Trato [Portrait/I Try Again]”; stills, 2004, single-channel video projection without sound, 28 min. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Purchase with funds provided by the Jumex Fund for Contemporary Latin American Art (photo: courtesy of the artist)
Oscar Muñoz, “El juego de las probabilidades [The Game of Probabilities],” 2007, twelve color photographs, each 21 5/8 x 17 1/2 in.Collection of Cecilia and Ernesto Poma, courtesy of Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino (photo: courtesy of the artist)
Shop
The accompanying catalogue for this exhibition is available for purchase via Amazon and the Phoenix Art Museum Store.
“Invisibilia” constitutes the first substantive monograph on Oscar Muñoz’s work in English. It aims to become one of the most significant research resources published on the artist’s work to date by addressing the entire span of the artist’s career, beginning in the 1970s and continuing to 2020.
Contributions by F. Bazzano-Nelson, N. Brizuela, V. K. Davidson, J. Fontcuberta, M. Gili, M. Mendez, O. Muñoz, M. I. Rodríguez, K. Salcido, E. Shtromberg, R. Storr, A. Uslenghi
Past Programs
Press
Arts and Culture Texas, Imagining the Invisible: Oscar Muñoz’s Retrospective at the Blanton
Burnaway, More vulnerable, more human: Oscar Muñoz at the Blanton Museum of Art
Glasstire, Closer: Oscar Muñoz’s Abstract Intimacy
Hyperallergic, Oscar Muñoz at the Blanton Museum of Art
Sightlines, Between being and nothingness: Oscar Muñoz at the Blanton
Texas Global, Blanton Museum Presents First U.S. Retrospective of Colombian Artist Oscar Muñoz
Credit
Oscar Muñoz: Invisibilia is co-organized by Vanessa Davidson, Curator of Latin American Art, Blanton Museum of Art and the Phoenix Art Museum.
Generous funding for this exhibition at the Blanton is provided by The Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation and the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, with additional support from Ellen and David Berman, Michael Chesser, and Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino.