Oscar Murillo, Distribution Center (Installation View), The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, CA, 2014. Photo Courtesy: Josh White/JW Pictures.
Artist Oscar Murillo was already a bit of an art world darling, but then this happened, thus thrusting the British based artist even further into the spotlight (and he's only 28). Suddenly works that previously went for $7,000 in 2011 were going under the hammer and coming out the other side at $401,000 (at Philips). Subsequently he signed with the illustrious David Zwirner and will have his first show with the gallerist next month in NYC.
In conjunction with his current exhibition Distribution Center at The Mistake Room the artist has now organized a lottery that builds on previous engagements with the cultural valences of commodities and value. The lottery is a popular cultural phenomenon in certain areas of Latin America and also amongst immigrant communities living throughout the US and Europe. The promise of economic mobility and social advancement that the improbable odds of winning the lottery has continues to fuel people's participation, speaking more broadly to the circumstances of immigrant peoples living around the world and the often unrealizable notion of the American dream.
Informed by the manufacturing context of The Mistake Room's Downtown LA location, Murillo has created a series of original painted works on used T-shirts, radically transforming the value and circulation of otherwise cheap and readily available garments.
Oscar Murillo, Distribution Center (Installation View), The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, CA, 2014. Photo Courtesy: Josh White/JW Pictures.
The works, which are not for sale, can only be acquired through a lottery for which there are fifty 50 being sold at $1,000/each. At a closing party for his exhibition, scheduled for Thursday, April 10, 2014, Murillo will conduct a lottery drawing and select three lucky winners who will each get one of these unique works. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the lottery go directly to benefit The Mistake Room's future exhibitions and programs.
Tickets may be purchased in person at The Mistake Room or by emailing info@tmr.la.
Tickets are very limited and available on a first come first serve basis.
The Mistake Room is located at 1811 E. 20th St. Los Angeles, CA 90058. Hours: Wed-Sat, 12pm-7pm; Sun-Tue: CLOSED. T: 213.749.1200 Email: info@tmr.la
Website: http://www.tmr.la