Rene Matić and Oscar Murillo: JAZZ. A Duo Exhibition at Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna

The duo show 'JAZZ.' brings together artists Rene Matić and Oscar Murillo for the first time, exploring themes of desire, visibility, and opacity through a combination of painting, installation, film, photography, and sound. Both artists present existing works and new commissions that engage with the exhibition space and the city of Vienna.

The exhibition 'JAZZ.' marks the first collaborative presentation of artists Rene Matić (b. 1997, UK) and Oscar Murillo (b. 1986, Colombia). The show features both existing works and new commissions created in response to the Kunsthalle Wien space and Vienna itself. Through a multifaceted approach encompassing painterly gestures, installation, film, photography, and sound, the exhibition delves into the complexities of desire, visibility, and opacity, and how these concepts challenge complete understanding. Murillo's practice often prioritizes the social and collective, while Matić's is rooted in the personal, yet both artists utilize gesture and abstraction, sharing a spontaneous and uninhibited creative energy. Their work carves out space for independent thought, reformulating art historical narratives and genealogies in defiance of classification. Oscar Murillo's contribution includes large-scale black canvases suspended from the ceiling, forming a labyrinthine structure that shapes the exhibition space and facilitates intimate viewing of works like 'fields of spirits' (2023) and 'Telegram' (2016–2023). These series often stem from his collaborative 'Frequencies' project, where students globally contribute to canvases. Murillo's practice is characterized by working with fragments from diverse geographical contexts, highlighting the presence of multiple hands in his creations. Rene Matić's contributions are embedded within Murillo's structure, with four new commissions directly referencing Vienna's historical reaction to Josephine Baker's appearance in 1928. Through film works like 'redacted' and 'climax,' the photo series '(out of) place,' and the sound work 'voice,' Matić explores darkness as a strategy of occlusion, refusal, and protection, particularly for bodies often exposed in societal contexts. The sound work 'voice' uses church bells not as a warning but as a call to prayer for Baker, reclaiming the dancer's voice and prompting reflection on the viewer's role and the politics of looking.

Information regarding tickets and admission can be found via the provided press download link or the main Kunsthalle Wien website. Specific ticketing details are not detailed on this page but are accessible through related links.