Muñoz, Óscar

Óscar Muñoz is a visual artist who employs highly unconventional techniques and possesses a subtle artistic sensitivity to create impactful works that question the paradoxes of the human image and the fragile, ephemeral nature of perception, identity, and memory. Over more than 30 years, he has created an impressive body of work that is both local and universal. Within the Colombian context, Muñoz's work questions the role of the production and consumption of images through public media in creating a political reality that accepts ongoing violence and war as part of daily routine. Óscar Muñoz continually experiments with processes, media, and their presentation. In "Aliento" (1996-2002), the viewer breathes onto what appear to be blank mirrors, causing portraits of deceased individuals to appear, momentarily recovering their presence. The video "Re/trato" (2004) shows the artist struggling to draw a self-portrait in water on a hot slab, where the drawn lines evaporate before the image can be completed. In other works, faces made of ashes on water gradually blur and disappear as the water drains away; conversely, using video, the faces are inverted and redraw themselves in an endless loop. Muñoz is an inspiring figure in the Colombian art scene and is also the co-founder (2006) and artistic director of Lugar a Dudas in Cali, which has played a significant role in revitalizing local culture. His open-access space, which includes an archive, a library, artist residencies, and a laboratory for research and critical analysis, represents a cultural hub for the local community.