Daniel Otero Torres
Daniel Otero Torres is born in 1985, in Bogotá, Colombia. The work of Daniel Otero Torres is grounded on the re-construction of ideology through drawings done by hand over aluminium and steel. Moving in the frontier between drawing and sculpture, Otero Torres’ origami-like constructions appear at first as uncanny grand-format black and white photographs. Upon closer inspection, one realises the images are in fact handmade drawings, laboriously done with graphite pencils over a flat surface that has the visual weightlessness of paper but the actual density of metal. His works have been exhibited in numerous institutions such as the MACAAL, Marrakech; the Espacio 23 of the Jorge Perez Collection, Miami; Musée Régional d’Art Contemporain MRAC Sérignan, France, including his solo exhibition (Dé)placements (2017) and the collective show Bandes à part (2018); CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, Chine (2017); Contemporary Art Centre of Villeurbanne, Rhône-Alpes, France (2016); Kunstverein Sparkasse, Leipzig, Germany (2014); Heidelberg Kunstverein, Germany (2011); and the Bullukian Foundation, Lyon, France (2010), among others. Recent projects include large scale installations in La Tôlerie, Clermont Ferrand, France (2019); FLAX Foundation, Los Angeles, US (2019); and Drawing Lab Paris, France (2021).
Punto de fuga [Vanishing Point]
2016,
Textile prints based on analog photographs
Also on view is the textile print Punto de fugo (2016) [Vanishing point]. A sphere held aloft forms this vanishing point, placing Otero Torres’ sculptures, and in particular the visual material incorporated into them, in the context of global conflicts and raising questions about possible points of reference and horizons within them. (Yannick Fritz)
Augarten Contemporary, hoast, IG Architektur, Laurenz, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Never At Home, Waffen Franz Kapfer, New Jörg, Ve.Sch
October 17–December 17
Main Exhibition
Curators: Serge Klymko, Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schöllhammer
Dos son más que uno
2021,
Pencil and watercolor on polished stainless steel
Dos son más que uno (2021) [Two are more than one] consists of meticulous handmade pencil drawings on metal. Group images or staged portrait photographs from historical conflict zones that have assumed an iconic status over time served as the model for the larger-than-life sculpture. For example, the upper part of the work is based on a photograph of female fighters in the National Liberation Front (FLN) during the Algerian War (1954–62); to the center left is a reference to Vietnamese soldier Ta Thi Kieu; to the right is an anonymous Spanish militia woman. A photograph of two Kurdish peshmerga in women’s defense units fighting against so called Islamic State in Syria underpins the lower section of the work. Through this practice, Daniel Otero Torres addresses the role of images in relation to world conflicts and female fighters active in them, who are often stylized as icons and at the same time are exposed to complex inequalities in terms of how they are treated and appraised.
Augarten Contemporary, hoast, IG Architektur, Laurenz, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Never At Home, Waffen Franz Kapfer, New Jörg, Ve.Sch
October 17–December 17
Main Exhibition
Curators: Serge Klymko, Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schöllhammer
