Sotheby’s Exclusive Editions continues with Oscar Murillo, one of the most compelling contemporary artists working today. Born in La Paila, Colombia in 1986, Murillo has developed a wide-ranging practice spanning painting, installation, performance, and collaborative projects across multiple media. Across these forms, his work explores how movement, labor, and cultural exchange shape individual and collective experience, often through the movement of materials and cultural references across borders.
While Murillo’s practice often engages with ideas of participation and shared experience, it is equally defined by its physical and material character. His paintings frequently incorporate raw canvas and stitched fabrics layered with dirt, markings, and handwritten text, allowing the surface itself to retain traces of movement and process. This tactile sensibility has become central to Murillo’s visual language, giving the work an immediacy that moves fluidly between abstraction, language, and social history.
Sotheby’s Exclusive Editions approaches editions through the same standards that shape its broader curatorial philosophy: prioritizing artistic integrity while expanding meaningful access to important contemporary artists. Developed in close collaboration with the artist and in partnership with LITO Editions as a strategic collaborator, each release is conceived as a fully realized work rather than a secondary adaptation of an existing practice. The editions bring together the artist’s vision with Sotheby’s curatorial framework and LITO’s technical expertise to create works that reflect the integrity and presence of the original artwork while offering collectors rare access to tightly controlled primary market editions.
With Oscar Murillo, Sotheby’s Exclusive Editions continues its focus on artist-driven editions defined by artistic significance, exceptional production quality, and strict scarcity, available exclusively through Sotheby’s. In celebration of the South London Gallery’s 135th anniversary, all artist proceeds from the release will be donated to the South London Gallery, where Murillo had his first institutional exhibition in London in 2013.
| Category | What to Know |
|---|---|
| What Are Exclusive Editions | Limited edition artworks created in close collaboration with leading contemporary artists and available only through Sotheby’s |
| Featured Artist | Oscar Murillo presents Mango, 2026, his first-ever limited edition print, derived from the celebrated “Word Paintings” series, Drawings off the Wall (2010–2014). |
| Why Editions Matter | They provide broader access into collecting works by major contemporary artists |
| Production | Created in close collaboration with the artist and produced and co-published with LITO with exceptional attention to surface, color, and material detail |
| Collector Appeal | Signed and numbered works by the artist, exclusive to Sotheby’s and connected to one of the most recognizable visual and linguistic motifs in Murillo’s practice |
| Edition Size | Produced in limited edition of 50 |
| Medium and Materials | Works produced using LITO Hi-Rnd©, a registered trademark and globally patented high-rendering technology, as high-rendered prints on Aludibond with dark brown aluminum framing designed to preserve texture, relief, and surface depth |
| Collector Appeal | Hand-signed and numbered works by the artist, exclusive to Sotheby’s and directly connected to leading contemporary artists |
For Sotheby’s Exclusive Editions, Mango, marks Oscar Murillo’s first-ever limited edition print, derived from the artist’s celebrated “word paintings” series, Drawings off the Wall (2010–2014). The original work belongs to a defining period in Murillo’s early practice, when bold words such as “mango,” “chorizo,” “yoga,” and “maiz” appeared across heavily worked canvases layered with transferred marks, exposed linen, and partially obscured language. Within these paintings, words function less as direct statements than as fragmented cultural references embedded into the physical surface of the work itself.
Murillo’s paintings often feel less like static images and more like surfaces shaped through action, transfer, and accumulation over time. Marks are layered, interrupted, stitched together, or partially erased, creating works that retain a strong sense of physical history. This openness to process has become one of the defining characteristics of his practice, allowing the paintings to remain active, unresolved, and materially charged.
Within this context, "mango" becomes an especially fitting subject for an edition. The word itself is both familiar and open-ended, carrying associations tied to commerce and everyday experience. Rather than functioning as a fixed symbol, it becomes absorbed into a larger system of gesture, texture, and material accumulation that defines the “word paintings” series. Produced and co-published with LITO Editions in a strictly limited edition of 50, Mango, offers collectors direct access to one of the defining visual languages from an important period of Murillo’s career.
The significance of Mango also becomes clearer within the broader context of Murillo’s market and the lasting importance of the “word paintings” series within his career. Works from this period remain among the most recognizable from Murillo’s early practice because they established many of the visual ideas and material qualities that continue to define his work today. Collectors have been especially drawn to the tension between language and abstraction, as well as the physical intensity and layered construction of the surfaces themselves.
This sustained collector demand has also been reflected at Sotheby’s. In June 2022, an important 2012 Untitled painting featuring oil, oilstick, tape, and dirt on canvas sold for £139K GBP. The work’s exposed materiality and heavily worked surface reflected many of the same visual and physical qualities that define Murillo’s “word paintings” period.
Similarly, Untitled (stack), executed in 2012 using oil, oilstick, spray paint, and dirt on stitched canvas across two panels, sold for $227K USD in November 2021. The work’s fragmented structure and accumulated surface echoed Murillo’s broader interest in transfer, interruption, and material process, ideas that remain central to Mango and the broader Drawings off the Wall series.
Another important example, Poker from 2013, sold for £127K GBP in June 2023. Like the “word paintings,” the work combined oil, oilstick, and dirt on canvas, emphasizing Murillo’s continued focus on gesture, surface density, and the transformation of familiar references into painterly abstraction.
Together, these results help contextualize the significance of Murillo’s first-ever limited edition print within the contemporary market today. While unique paintings and editions occupy different positions within collecting, Mango offers collectors direct access to one of the defining visual languages from an important period of the artist’s career. Produced in a strictly limited edition of 50 and available exclusively through Sotheby’s, the work reflects many of the same qualities that continue to drive interest in Murillo’s original paintings today.
For Sotheby’s Exclusive Editions, Murillo’s original Mango painting has been translated into the artist’s first-ever limited edition print, extending one of the defining visual languages of his early practice into a new format. Produced using LITO Editions’ Hi-Rnd© technology and developed in direct collaboration with Oscar Murillo, the edition preserves the gestural markings and material density that distinguish the artist’s paintings.
Rather than functioning as a conventional flat print, the work is conceived as a materially driven object that emphasizes texture and physical presence. Each work is realized as a high-rendered print on Aludibond with a dark brown aluminum frame, reinforcing the surface depth that remain central to Murillo’s practice while translating the original painting into a tightly controlled contemporary edition format.
This attention to surface is especially important within Murillo’s work, where meaning is often constructed through layering, interruption, transfer, and erasure. The exposed canvas, fragmented language, and accumulated marks that define the Drawings off the Wall series are not secondary details, but fundamental elements of the composition itself. Preserving those qualities within an edition required a production process capable of capturing both the physical complexity of the original work.
Issued in a strictly limited edition of 50, Mango, offers collectors a rare opportunity to engage directly with one of the most recognizable motifs from Murillo’s early career. Released directly through Sotheby’s as a primary market work, the edition is encountered at its earliest stage of availability while maintaining the material richness and scarcity expected from a highly considered contemporary edition.
As the careers of leading contemporary artists mature, their unique works increasingly enter museum collections or long-term private holdings, making them difficult for new collectors to acquire. This dynamic has made editions an essential part of the contemporary art market. Editions allow artists to translate their core ideas into formats that can be more widely distributed while still maintaining artistic integrity and scarcity through limited production.
For collectors, editions can serve both as an entry point and as a way to deepen an existing collection. New collectors are often drawn to editions because they provide access to important artists at a more accessible price point than unique works, while still owning a work that is signed, numbered, and produced under the artist’s supervision. At the same time, many established collectors continue collecting artists they already follow through editions. For collectors of artists such as Oscar Murillo, editions offer the opportunity to live with more of the artist’s imagery and ideas, particularly as major paintings become increasingly difficult to acquire. When these works are acquired in the primary market, collectors benefit from access at the point of release, which can be a defining moment in the lifecycle of an artwork.
The strongest contemporary collections are rarely built around a single category of work alone. Editions and unique works often exist alongside one another, allowing collectors to engage with an artist’s practice through multiple formats and moments within their career.
A defining aspect of the Sotheby’s Exclusive Editions collaboration is the exceptional quality of the finished works. What matters most to collectors is the result: editions that possess a strong material presence and visual depth that more closely resemble an original work than a traditional print. These are not flat reproductions, but carefully developed objects created with close attention to how the work itself exists within a space.
For Oscar Murillo, this material attention is especially important. Murillo’s paintings rely heavily on physical process and the sense that the surface has been built, altered, and reworked over time. Stitched canvas, dirt, paint, text, plastic, and other materials become part of compositions that feel both raw and deliberate. A successful edition must therefore preserve the energy and physical force that define the original work.
For collectors familiar with Murillo’s paintings, this level of production quality matters because the impact of his work is inseparable from its physical surface. Layered marks, exposed materials, and accumulated gestures are not secondary details, but central to how meaning is constructed within the painting itself. Rather than simply reproducing an image, these editions reinterpret the original work in a new format while maintaining the density, physicality, and immediacy that distinguish Murillo’s practice.
For collectors, this evolution has made editions increasingly compelling because the works maintain a closer visual and physical relationship to the artist’s original work while still existing as distinct objects in their own right.. When developed in close collaboration with the artist and released in tightly controlled numbers, these editions are best understood as thoughtfully produced works that exist within the artist’s broader practice and the contemporary art market as a whole.
Sotheby's Exclusive Editions offers collectors the opportunity to acquire works produced in direct collaboration with leading contemporary artists and produced and co-published with LITO editions, available exclusively through Sotheby’s.
With Oscar Murillo’s Mango, the series continues with an artist whose practice is defined by its material intensity and layered visual language. The edition offers collectors a signed and numbered work connected to one of the defining motifs from Murillo’s early practice while preserving the physical presence and conceptual depth that distinguish his paintings.
As editions continue to play a larger role within the contemporary art market, Sotheby’s Exclusive Editions reflects a more considered approach to how collectors engage with artists and acquire works. Each release is carefully conceived, collaboratively produced, and offered at its earliest stage of availability, creating access to tightly controlled primary market editions available exclusively through Sotheby’s.
With Kehinde Wiley launching the inaugural release and Oscar Murillo continuing the series, Sotheby’s Exclusive Editions is positioned as a destination for collectors seeking limited edition works by leading contemporary artists. Defined by strict scarcity and close artist collaboration, each release is designed to maintain the rarity and integrity expected from highly considered contemporary editions.
Sotheby's Exclusive Editions are limited edition artworks created in close collaboration with leading contemporary artists and produced and co-published with LITO. Each work is signed and numbered by the artist and is available exclusively through Sotheby’s, with edition sizes intentionally limited to ensure rarity, quality, and a close connection to the artist’s original vision.
Yes. Each edition is signed and numbered by Oscar Murillo.
Mango is issued in a strictly limited edition of 50. At this scale, only a very small number of collectors will be able to acquire each work.
Yes. These editions are created in direct collaboration with Oscar Murillo and produced in strictly limited numbers. Because they are developed in direct collaboration with the artist and hand-signed and numbered, they are considered original editions and form part of Murillo’s broader body of work. Within the contemporary art market, artist-authorized limited editions are an established and respected collecting category, particularly when produced in close collaboration with the artist and released in small edition sizes.
These works are produced using LITO Hi-Rnd©, a registered trademark and globally patented high-rendering technology developed by LITO Editions. Using its proprietary Hi-Rnd© process, LITO is able to capture and replicate texture, color, relief, and brushstrokes at multiple scales, preserving the surface depth and material presence of the original artwork. Each edition is created on Aludibond and presented in a signature dark brown aluminum frame, emphasizing the object quality and layered physicality that define Murillo’s practice.
Sotheby's Exclusive Editions are defined by close collaboration with the artist, exceptional production quality, intentionally small edition sizes, and exclusive availability through Sotheby’s. Because these works are developed and released solely through Sotheby’s in collaboration with the artist, they represent a more limited and tightly controlled category of contemporary editions than traditional print releases.
Whether you are expanding an established collection of Oscar Murillo’s work or acquiring one of his editions for the first time, Sotheby’s offers a trusted and seamless way to buy Exclusive Editions on the secondary market.
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