Join us for a captivating lecture by renowned ceramicist and painter Woody De Othello. De Othello will share insights into his artistic journey, inspirations, and techniques.

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Speaker Bio:

Woody De Othello (b. 1991, Miami, Florida) is a Miami-born, California-based artist whose subject matter spans household objects, bodily features, and  the natural world. Everyday artifacts of the domestic tables, chairs,  television remotes, telephone receivers, lamps, air purifiers, et cet era—are anthropomorphized in glazed ceramic, bronze, wood, and  glass. Othello’s sense of humor manifests across his work in visual  puns and cartoonish figuration. “I choose objects that are already  very human,” says Othello. “The objects mimic actions that humans perform; they’re extensions of our own actions. We use phones to  speak and to listen, clocks to tell time, vessels to hold things, and  our bodies are indicators of all of those.” Othello’s scaled-up  representations of these objects often slump over, overcome with  gravity, as if exhausted by their own use. This sophisticated gravitational effect is a central formal challenge in his work. Informed by his own Haitian ancestry, Othello takes interest in the supernatural  objects of Vodou folklore, nkisi figures, and other animist artifacts that inspire him. 

Recent solo exhibitions include Stephen Friedman Gallery, London (2024); Karma, New York (2022, 2019); John Michael Kohler Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin (2021–22); Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco (2021); Nina Johnson, Miami (2020); Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (2020); San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California (2019). His work was included in Quiet as It’s Kept, the 2022 Whitney Biennial. Othello’s work is represented in the collections of the Aishti Foundation, Beirut; Baltimore Museum of Art; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; Dallas Museum of Art; de Young Museum, San Francisco; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome; Museum of Fine Art, Boston; Museum of Fine Art, Houston; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; Rennie Collection, Vancouver; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California; Seattle Art Museum; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.