ART CITIES: N.York-Angel Otero

Angel Otero’s work is influenced by the nature and formulation of memories. His approach to art combines methods of formation and deformation, a way of working that results in images and objects that seem to be in a continual state of becoming. Among his most illustrative bodies of work are his so-called “paint skins,” which are made by painting on glass then, once dry, scraping off the paint in sheets like peeled layers of skin.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Hauser & Wirth Gallery Archive

Angel Otero in his solo exhibition “Swimming Where Time Was” presents a new body of work marks a turning point in the artist’s career, revealing a new sensibility that has emerged over the last few years. In a reversal of the typical painting process, Otero begins each new work by painting the foreground scene on plexiglass first and then working backward, in layers, so the background, frequently inspired by historical abstract masterpieces, is painted last. He then builds in a layer of fabric to hold the entire structure together before scraping it off and fixing it onto canvas. Afterward, Otero continues to add to the surface, collaging images of items like pots and pans, window shutters, bingo tickets and folded paper fans from a repository of previously made works to create an entirely new, multilayered composition. In this way, the artist merges process and intent: through the skilled layering and mixing of fragments from different sources, he effectively emulates the ways in which our memories of the past, imprecise and frequently distorted, are pieced together to construct our present. These vibrant large-scale canvases merge the figurative and abstract sides of Otero’s innovative technical practice, advancing the artist’s exploration of oil paint as a medium and a conduit for self-reflection and analysis. Using his personal history to make sense of the current moment, these new works intensify the artist’s uncanny ability to convey memory and history through materiality. Otero’s signature approach to visual storytelling synthesizes magical realism and abstraction, the observed and the imagined, and the past and the present through a labor-intensive process of laying down, peeling and collaging oil paint. Drawing from his memories of growing up in Puerto Rico and the gestural mark-making of artists whose work he first discovered in books as a child Otero has invented a visual realm that evokes the enchanting and sometimes strange ways in which everyday objects become personified through the lens of memory. While a few of the new works are predominantly abstract in nature, like “One Hundred Dreams From Now” (2022), numerous compositions also represent quotidian objects that Otero has imbued with surreal qualities–– blurring the line between gesture and allusion, documentation and recollection to evoke a dreamlike state of consciousness. In the work titled “Concerto” (2022), an upright piano from Otero’s studio, a former church in upstate New York, sits against an undulating crimson background. In the painting “Behind Curtains” (2022), the viewer is positioned just outside an arched doorway that frames an inviting yet disorienting space: A sheer curtain of crocheted lace obscures the details of a room rich with bright colors and textures, while the diagonal composition of a wooden sculpture made from old furniture levitates above the floor. The curtain’s floral patten reappears on a bedspread in the painting “Mi Acuario” (2022), in which bright blue and yellow sea kelp have taken over the room like an overgrown garden, transforming it into a fantastical, human-sized fish tank.

Angel Otero’s practice is known for employing highly innovative techniques that challenge the parameters of his materials, revealing the intrinsic qualities of paint. His works are rooted in abstract image making and engage with ideas of memory through addressing art history, as well as his own lived experience. Otero is best known for the “Oil Skin” works he began in 2010, an ongoing series that demonstrates the inherently transformative nature of the artist’s practice as well as his dedication to expanding the visual field of abstract expressionism. Using oil paint layered onto glass and peeled off at a partially dried state, Otero recomposes his ‘skins’ onto canvas to make entirely new images and patterns. This methodical process is extended to his “Transfer” Series (2013) which utilizes imagery from his own personal history. Referencing historical etchings, the artist traces images drawn from his family photographs into horizontal lines with silicone—he eventually transfers the composition onto a large piece of paper that becomes the plate he will cover in raw pigment. Otero then lays his canvas onto these mediums to create a distorted monotype of the original imagery. His more recent works have continued to explore chance-based processes and their potential to convey memory and history through materiality. In 2017, Otero debuted a series of large-scale sculptural oil paintings that resemble tapestry. Hanging freely, these works incorporate salvaged materials from his studio, off-cuts of previous paintings, and found objects that are significant to his native Puerto Rico. The many fragments that make up his compositions become powerful meditations on past and present. The artist’s early childhood memories are brought to the forefront in his most recent series of paintings which see a return to figuration combined with his hallmark style of abstraction. Otero paints and collages dreamlike scenes upon his vibrant structured canvases, depicting objects and spaces that are loosely based on personal memories associated with the domestic sphere. Probing the boundaries of figuration and abstraction, Otero’s most recent works continue to expand the possibilities of painting and materiality.

Photo:  Angel Otero, Mi Acuario, 2022, Oil paint and oil paint skins collaged on canvas, 241.3 x 360.7 x 3.8 cm / 95 x 142 x 1 1/2 in, 245.7 x 366.1 x 7.6 cm / 96 3/4 x 144 1/8 x 3 in (framed), © Angel Otero, Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Gallery

Info: Hauser & Wirth Gallery, 542 West 22nd Steet, New York, USA, Duration: 10/11-23/12/2022, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10;00-18:00, www.hauserwirth.com/