Woody De Othello (born 1991)[1] is an American ceramicist and painter. He lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.[2][3][4][5]

Woody De Othello
Born1991 (age 32–33)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Alma materFlorida Atlantic University,
California College of Arts
Occupation(s)Ceramicist, painter

Early life and education

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Woody De Othello was born in 1991 in Miami, Florida.[1] He is of Haitian descent.[6][7]

Othello received a BFA degree from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, and an MFA degree from the California College of Arts in San Francisco in 2017.[2][8]

Career

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In 2015, Othello's debut solo exhibition, It's Going To Be Ok, was held at Unit 1 gallery in Lake Worth, Florida.[9] In 2018, Othello was included in Yerba Buena Center for the Arts triennial exhibition, "Bay Area Now 8."[8] In 2019 the San Jose Museum of Art hosted, Woody De Othello: Breathing Room.[6] Looking In, a solo exhibition of Othello's work at Jessica Silverman Gallery in 2021 included ceramic sculptures, paintings, and framed works on paper.[10]

His eight-foot tall, bronze sculpture of a yellow box fan, entitled Cool Composition, received critical attention at 2019's Art Basel in Miami Beach.[2]

In 2022 Othello was selected to participate in the 2022 Whitney Biennial, curated by Adrienne Edwards and David Breslin.[11] His biennial installation, The will to make things happen, included a set of exaggerated, domestic objects such as a radiator, accompanied by anthropomorphized ceramic vessels with hands and legs.[12]

Othello has referred to an interest in pottery by South Carolinian enslaved potters such as David Drake, as well as precolonial Yoruba pottery, as inspiration for his work.[13][14][15]

Exhibitions

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Collections

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Othello's work is in the collection of a number of contemporary art museums including: Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami;[19] San Francisco Museum of Modern Art;[20] San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California;[6] and the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Woody De Othello: The Emotion of Everyday Objects". Frieze. February 20, 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
  2. ^ a b c "How Woody De Othello Is Shaping the Future of Ceramics". Galerie. 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  3. ^ "Woody de Othello Mixes Playful with Political". www.culturedmag.com. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  4. ^ Adamson, Glenn (2021-09-27). "Am I Blue?: Woody De Othello's Ceramic Sculptures Give Funk Art a Musical Twist". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  5. ^ Boas, Natasha (2021-11-02). "Woody De Othello's Monuments to Everyday Life". Frieze. No. 224. ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  6. ^ a b c "Woody De Othello". San José Museum of Art. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
  7. ^ Furman, Anna (2022-03-17). "Woody De Othello's Extraordinary Monuments to the Mundane". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-03.
  8. ^ a b Walls, Jaelynn (2022-03-28). "Woody De Othello Imbues Life into His Sculptures of Everyday Objects". Artsy. Retrieved 2022-04-03.
  9. ^ SouthFlorida.com, Phillip Valys (21 January 2015). "Artist's creatures are ugly inside and out". sun-sentinel.com. Retrieved 2022-04-03.
  10. ^ Boas, Natasha (2021-11-02). "Woody De Othello's Monuments to Everyday Life". Frieze. No. 224. ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 2022-04-03.
  11. ^ Mitter, Siddhartha (2022-01-25). "Whitney Biennial Picks 63 Artists to Take Stock of Now". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-25.
  12. ^ "Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It's Kept". whitney.org. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  13. ^ "How Woody De Othello Is Shaping the Future of Ceramics". Galerie. 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  14. ^ Furman, Anna (2022-03-17). "Woody De Othello's Extraordinary Monuments to the Mundane". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  15. ^ "Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It's Kept". whitney.org. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h "To speak of trees". Minnesota Street Project. 2017-01-09. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
  17. ^ "Laughter That Will Bury You All: "Crack Up – Crack Down," the 33rd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts — Mousse Magazine and Publishing". www.moussemagazine.it. 2019-06-15. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
  18. ^ Durón, Maximilíano (2022-01-25). "Taking the Title 'Quiet as It's Kept,' 2022 Whitney Biennial Names 63 Participating Artists". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
  19. ^ "Mourning Day and Night - Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami". icamiami.org. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
  20. ^ "De Othello, Woody". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2022-02-28.
  21. ^ "Fact Sheet – "This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World" | Smithsonian American Art Museum". americanart.si.edu. Retrieved 2022-02-28.