Next Talks & More | Artist Talks

Woody De Othello

Collage image of Woody De Othello's portrait and an assemblage of ceramic and bronze sculptures on a tiled plinth.

Join multimedia artist Woody De Othello for a presentation about his practice.

In this free talk, explore the imagery—household objects, human features, and the natural world—that Othello recreates and recombines in his paintings, drawings, and three-dimensional works in materials including clay and bronze. Gain insights from the artist about his practice and how his work is situated within the wider field of sculpture. 

Othello’s work playfully highlights the relationships people have built and maintain with objects used in their daily lives as well as with the systems and networks these objects represent. At the same time, it explores spiritual connections, from Othello’s own relationship with clay as a material to the associations we all have with the forms and gestures incorporated into his sculptures and paintings. 
 
A conversation and audience Q&A with Othello and Breana Hendricks, an MFA candidate in Ohio State’s Department of Art, follows his presentation.

IMAGE CAPTION
Left: Woody De Othello, photo: Smeeta Mahanti. Right: Woody Othello, The will to make things happen, 2021; installation view as part of the Whitney Biennial: Quiet as It’s Kept, 2022; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; photo: Raul Valverde.

"Othello’s sense of humor manifests across his work in visual puns and cartoonish figuration."

About the artist

Woody De Othello

Woody De Othello holds an MFA from California College of the Arts in San Francisco and a BFA from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. His work is in collections throughout the US and abroad, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; Pérez Art Museum Miami; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA); Seattle Art Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Othello’s work was included in the 2022 Whitney Biennial and has been exhibited widely in group exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; SFMOMA; and FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. Othello has also completed numerous large-scale public-art commissions around the country.

Program Support

Copresented by Ohio State’s Department of Art and Wexner Center for the Arts.

LEARNING & PUBLIC PRACTICE PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
CoverMyMeds
Huntington

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Ohio Arts Council
The Ohio State University Office of Outreach & Engagement

Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation
Martha Holden Jennings Foundation
Barbara and Sheldon Pinchuk Arts-Community Outreach Fund

SUPPORT FOR LEARNING & PUBLIC PRACTICE RESIDENCIES PROVIDED BY
Mike and Paige Crane


WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council
The Wexner Family
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Mellon Foundation
Every Page Foundation
Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts
CampusParc

Nationwide Foundation

Lois S. and H. Roy Chope Fund of The Columbus Foundation
The Columbus Foundation
Axium Packaging

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection
David Crane and Elizabeth Dang
Louise Lambert Braver

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Woody De Othello