Angel Otero Puerto Rico, b. 1981
Untitled (SK-VC), 2015
Oil paint and oil paint skins collaged on canvas
84 x 72 x 2 1/2 in
213.4 x 182.9 x 6.3 cm
213.4 x 182.9 x 6.3 cm
4979
Further images
Angel Otero's iconic 'paint skins' have evolved through numerous staged throughout his career, as he has gone about extensively exploring his signature technique. Otero's 'paint skins' are produced by laboriously...
Angel Otero's iconic "paint skins" have evolved through numerous staged throughout his career, as he has gone about extensively exploring his signature technique. Otero's "paint skins" are produced by laboriously layering oil paint on glass, often recreating a painting from art history or a photo from his own family history. As the oil cures on the glass, it takes on an elastic, skin-like texture that can be peeled up from the glass and transferred to canvas. Otero has spent more than a decade experimenting with the technique, at times going more sculptural with how he drapes the oil skin and at times going flat; he has also experimented extensively with layering, reductive marks while on glass, cutting and collaging smaller pieces, integrating fabric or other found objects into the paint matrix, reversing his painting during the transfer (so that the underside shows outward), and innumerable other variants. This exploration of paint itself is both a methodical study of the substance of painting, and a time-intensive meditation of his chosen subject matters.
This particular piece has an emphasis on sculptural "waves" of oil paint which fold outwards off the canvas surface, like drapery.
This particular piece has an emphasis on sculptural "waves" of oil paint which fold outwards off the canvas surface, like drapery.
Provenance
The artist's studio, New York, NY, USAKavi Gupta gallery, Chicago, IL, USA