Gazing is one of the great protagonists of his works and this is evident in Narciso [Narcissus], a unique evocation of the myth (in this case using a video format) to remind us, throughout its duration, of the conflict between an image and its own shadow seeking to rejoin it, and thus, in this obstinate act, focusing on a fleeting, unstable representation. The persistent sound of water escaping through a siphon reminds one of the watery mirror in which the young Narcissus, captivated by his unreachable face, loses himself; in turn the pond of the myth is transmuted into a washing place, the support of the drawing, which glitters in the sensuality of its material and in the allegorical power of its function and form. Comfortably set in the depth of the container, the self-portrait - in charcoal -- stumps, and its outlines gradually lose definition as they disappear down the drain. The subjective effect is amplified upon confronting us with an image that appeals, with its inevitable disappearance, to the possibility of finding ourselves, of reaching the desired reconciliation between the image and a reality that does not match it. The fruitless operation reaches us easily enough due to the effectiveness of the act, in which the drawing becomes an event, an invitation to the eye eagerly anticipating the results.

Like much of this artist’s work, this piece reveals the rich symbolism of the materials he employs, their allegorical potential, and an attachment to an unquestionable sensorial quality.

It is fascinating to explore the existential implications of the mythological references in Muñoz’s work. Their presence, conceived in versions for different media (video, photography, installation) and over different periods - he began the series at the outset of the nineties - exemplifies a creative process that refuses to come to an end, is open to ongoing research and is set forth in its strict contingency. In each he has explored a new possibility, characterized by the certainty of constant reworkings and mutations.

The Narcisos [Narcissus] have been interpreted in many ways. Muñoz’s use of maps and photographs of Cali’s urban milieu, together with press cuttings and other elements taken from his surroundings, has prompted reflection on the factors that determine subjective experience. The presence of such records in some of his adaptations acts as a platform on which the self-portrait amalgamated in that mixture is laid, after the process of water evaporation inscribes the metaphor in precise territories of experiences where an occurrence marks, disfigures and simultaneously configures the ways of being oneself. The slow fading of the ideal in the reflected image, its impending decomposition - a rather direct reference to the myth that supports it - also speaks of the uneasiness that is felt in view of the ruin of human beings in a society where the lightness of everything replaces and undermines any strength. All this could show, in a way, the weakening of the ideals of subjectivity vanishing in the act of life turning into an event as advanced by the work.

But the special treatment that Oscar Muñoz gives to the narcissism he evokes gives rise to deeper edges that speak of the crumbling of the ego, of his unstoppable weakness for capturing the primordial image of his body in the mirror, and makes us face the anxiety of not being able to stop the return of that chaotic, fragmented and uncontrollable body that remained latent in us as a terrifying fantasy.

His Narcisos [Narcissus] attests to the loss of that skin that protected us from an aggressive world outside, and within us. As Lacán stated, the "strong ego" dies, and we are left with no option but to confront the tattered pieces of that emergency.(1)

There is another insinuation behind these pieces which are so complex and decisive in Muñoz’s work: it has to do with the idea of the "death of the image of the world"(2), that Martin Heidegger proposed on referring to the moment in which the impossibility of an organic, all-encompassing representation is perceived.

That important fissure remakes the image in a multiplicity of manifestations arising from various experiences and relations that cannot be reduced to a common denominator. In Muñoz’s poetics the detonator of these identities in the act, reformulated in the reincarnation, lies in a type of unique materiality in which the elements involved (water, light, charcoal, environmental variables) are liable to change state; and, their unforeseeable dynamics instill a powerfully lasting effect. Transparency - some versions of the Narcisos are in buckets of crystalline glass - is also one of the resources that provide visibility to the process of revealing the circumstances and the random nature of each new image. Everything in these pieces vouches for the natural way in which they work for different materials and temporalities (video, installation, photography). Upon becoming illuminated the logic of the media encourages the establishment of a leitmotiv (the myth) that can be relived in various ways, where the idea of a subject in the act, which takes shape through experience, provides a strong contrast to the notion of being, of destiny, assumed by the existence of the essential "I".