In Conversation: Artist Angel Otero with Senior Curator Valerie Cassel Oliver

Artist Angel Otero and Senior Curator Valerie Cassel Oliver conduct a gallery walk-through of the exhibition Angel Otero: Everything and Nothing, a ten-year survey that chronicles the evolution of the artist’s practice to date. They discuss Otero’s process-driven work and how he is shifting the perception of “what painting is” and what it can become as he offers a thought-provoking new dimension to the field of abstract painting.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Otero has pushed against the art historical narrative with seductive canvases and dynamic objects made with porcelain and steel. The artist consistently tests the elasticity of venerable art canons while oscillating between familial memories and the immense gesture of painting and sculpture. Mining the expansive territory of these artistic traditions, Otero offers a trove of ideas that have informed not only the content of his work but also its material composition and processes. Angel Otero: Everything and Nothing chronicles the evolution of Otero’s practice to date and features four distinct bodies of work created between 2006 and 2015, including his iconic skin and transfer paintings, early work created using silicon and collage, as well as sculpture.
© Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2016.