Angel Otero, a painter whose abstractions draw on latest artwork historical past and his recollections of his childhood in Puerto Rico, has joined Hauser & Wirth, one of many world’s prime galleries. By way of the brand new association, Otero will go away Lehmann Maupin, which has proven him for over a decade, and Vielmetter, which has proven him for nearly as lengthy. He can have his first Hauser & Wirth present inside the subsequent yr.
Otero’s work are sometimes created in order that they seem torn, smeared, or in different methods distressed. The artist paints utilizing what he calls “skins,” or layers which are allowed to partially dry earlier than Otero rips items off or scrapes away at them. Whereas a lot of Otero’s best-known works appear totally non-representational, he has launched figural imagery prior to now few years, in a transfer that has coincided with an introspective flip towards the artist’s upbringing. In 2017, his work have been the topic of a survey on the Bronx Museum of the Arts.
In an interview, Marc Payot, a president of Hauser & Wirth, known as Otero’s works “Gabriel García Márquez in portray,” including, “On one degree, it’s very private work, actually referring to his personal historical past rising up in Puerto Rico, the objects that he encounters in his dwelling, the recollections of his mother. But additionally, while you have a look at these work, they’re additionally very formal.”
Otero splits his time between New York and Puerto Rico, the place he was born in 1981. In becoming a member of Hauser & Wirth, he’ll grow to be one of many few Puerto Rico–primarily based artists to be represented by a mega-gallery.
The illustration additionally comes as Otero’s market grows quickly. Within the month of June 2021 alone, Otero’s public sale report was re-set 3 times. That report, set by the sale of his portray Acis and Galatea (2013) at Phillips in New York, now stands at $277,000; that portray had initially been anticipated to promote for simply $25,000–$35,000. (Payot mentioned he was unaware of those data, and that they didn’t contribute to the gallery’s resolution to begin representing Otero.)
Requested about what excites him about Otero’s work, Payot talked about the connections one might make between Otero and different artists represented by the gallery—one is Jack Whitten, who as soon as taught Otero. Payot additionally mentioned, “It’s very sturdy portray, and that’s so troublesome to seek out right now.”