Press Release
The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) presents Material Discovery, the first large-scale exhibition of paintings by artist Angel Otero in Asia, at SCAD Hong Kong’s Moot Gallery. Curated by SCAD chief curator Isolde Brielmaier, PhD, the exhibition debuted in February 2013 at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia as part of the university’s deFINE ART program. Material Discovery will be on view May 20 through August 23, 2013 at Moot Gallery, 292 Tai Po Road, Sham Shui Po.
Angel Otero, Untitled, 2010. Oil skins on canvas. Collection of Ninah and Michael Lynne. Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York.
“This body of work reveals my intention not only to address the possibilities and impossibilities of painting, but also to create a dialogue about the issues that have historically surrounded the practice,” says Otero.
Material Discovery features both new and recent paintings. A palpable presence in the contemporary art world, Otero is known for his process-based approach to painting, specifically his practice of creating “oil skins” that are made from paint poured onto glass and peeled off in dry sheets. These skins are then grafted onto the artist’s canvas to create assemblage works composed of additional materials such as resin, spray paint and silicone. The resulting works are simultaneously collage and décollage and present a dynamic, new approach to contemporary painting.
“As a global university offering a broad range of accredited art and design degree programs, we also seek to enrich the student experience with dynamic and thought-provoking experiences through our exhibitions,” said Grant Preisser, associate vice president of SCAD Hong Kong. “It is our pleasure to introduce Angel’s work to Asia as one of our signature showcases. We hope this exhibition and all of our programming at SCAD is a catalyst to inspire passion for arts and culture in the wider Hong Kong community.”
“We are so thrilled to be able to present Angel’s work at SCAD Hong Kong,” said Brielmaier. “His exhibition offers our students and the broader Hong Kong community a wonderful opportunity to experience a fresh, leading-edge approach to painting by a talented young artist.”
This exhibition is free and open to the public.
About Angel Otero
Born in 1981, in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Angel Otero is a visual artist best known for his process-based paintings. Through his innovative process of oil paint scraping, Otero venerates historical oil painting while confronting it head on. 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, is representative of how the artist perceives the process of reconfiguring both personal and historical narratives.
Otero received his M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Recent exhibitions include El Museo’s Sixth Biennial at El Museo del Barrio, New York; Memento, a solo exhibition at Lehmann Maupin Gallery New York; Misericordia at Prism Gallery Los Angeles; Constellations at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; and a solo exhibition at ISTANBUL’74, Turkey, presented by Lehmann Maupin. Otero is also the recipient of the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Performing and Visual Arts. He lives and works in New York.
SCAD: The University for Creative Careers
The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited institution conferring bachelor’s and master’s degrees at distinctive locations and online to prepare talented students for professional careers. SCAD offers degrees in more than 40 majors. For more information, visit www.scad.edu.
