The Puerto Rican painter moves seamlessly between representation and abstraction—but always with an eye to his past.
, where, opening November 10, Otero will have his first exhibition with the mega gallery since defecting from his longtime dealers earlier this year. It’s safe to assume the show will be well-attended: His auction record has been broken four times since March 2021 and now stands at $335,600, triple that lot’s high estimate.
, he was always fascinated by the materials and processes, including the wet-on-wet method Bob Ross taught on his now iconic TV showas well as George Baselitz’s upside-down technique. “Subject at that point wasn’t driving me too much,” Otero says. “I was more into making.” The school offered him a half scholarship to complete his BFA there and, later, a full ride for his MFA. He arrived in a snowstorm and navigated both culture and weather shock. “Chicago changed my life,” he says. “It was the first time leaving my island and leaving my family.” Otero always had trouble articulating his thoughts about his work—a key part of art-school pedagogy. “So I decided, I’m going to paint things that I know I can speak about, and that’s myself and my past,” he recalls.
Otero noticed the pile of dry oil paint that had accumulated on his palette. “It hurt to throw away paint that cost so much,” he says, wincing at the thought. “[The pile] reminded me of crumbling flowers, and I was like, ‘I could use this as a representation of a crumbling flower.’ I liked that it looked sculptural. I’ve always approached painting very sculpturally.”
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