April 2018 Unicorn Of The Month: Angel Otero

Lost Where I Belong. 2016. Oil paint and fabric collaged on canvas. 96 × 120 × 2 in

“I’ve always been passionate about painting specifically. That’s what drives me—painting and all the drama that goes with it,” states Angel Otero, who channels that passion into paintings and sculptures layered with directly applied oil paint and the sheets that form when it dries, called oil paint skins. Otero's 'deformation' approach to painting his works, first across glass and then once dry, flaying the dried paint and reconstructing the composition anew across large canvasses, creating thick, folding sheets, and densely textured compositions full of hills and crevices, is representative of how the artist perceives the process of reconfiguring both personal and historical narratives.

For his sculptures, he mixes materials like metal and wood with household items and furniture, which he then encrusts with the skins. Otero’s works range from entirely abstract, in his words, “purely gestural,” to semi-representative, incorporating ghostly figures, floral patterns, or evocative phrases.

At Five in the Afternoon. 2017. Oil skins on fabric. 104 × 96 × 4 in

Love Eclipses Evil. 2015. Oil paint and fabric on canvas. 84 × 60 × 2 1/2 in

Wind Chimes. 2015. Oil paint and fabric collaged on canvas. 96 × 72 × 2 1/2 in

Inspired by his music-filled childhood home and the fiercely independent New York School artists, Otero’s work sometimes uses process as a way of confronting deep, personal memories. Instead of representing his life through art, he archives moments within it by creating opportunities of surprise and discovery. His work is a constant negotiation between the individual and art history.

I was a Drizzle and she Was a Hurricane. 2016.Oil paint and fabric collaged on canvas. 60 × 36 in

Cathedral of Salt and Lime. 2018. Oil skins on fabric. 96 × 64 × 5 in

To view more of Angel's work, visit his website, and his Instagram. To inquire about available works, contact Lehmann Maupin, Kavi Gupta, or SUSANNE VIELMETTER Los Angeles Projects.