Daniel Otero Torres
Daniel Otero Torres was born in 1985 in Bogotá
He currently lives and works in Paris
The multidisciplinary work of Daniel Otero Torres encompasses sculpture, installation, ceramic work, pictorial practice, as well as drawing, which connects from the beginning all his creative facets. Many of his works stand out precisely because of an absolutely unique technique that explores the frontier between drawing and sculpture, marked by a virtuous photorealistic trait applied on monumental cut-out steel structures. This process manages to create a dislocation of materials and contexts. Generally, his images do not represent a single person but a visual and historical collage created from different sources, from archives and old books to images found in contemporary newspapers or online sources.
The artist is interested in notions of resistance and revolution —exemplified in the marginalized or ignored groups that have played an essential role in recent history— but also in images of demonstration, celebration and reconciliation as drivers of social change. More recently, ecological concerns have also found their way into his work as an indissociable element of contemporary activism. Otero Torres pays special attention to the harmful effects of exacerbated capitalism on biodiversity or indigenous peoples, while questioning the viewer about the links between nature and global politics.
His works have been exhibited in numerous international institutions and events such as the 16th Lyon Biennial (2022); Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (2022); Kestner Gesellscha”, Hanover, Germany (2022); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2021); Drawing Lab Paris (2021); MACAAL, Marrakech, Morocco (2020); the Espacio 23 of the Jorge Perez Collection, Miami (2019); La Tôlerie, Clermont Ferrand, France (2019); FLAXFoundation, Los Angeles (2019); Musée Régional d’Art Contemporain MRAC Sérignan,France, (2017); IAC Villeurbanne, Rhône-Alpes, France (2016); Kunstverein Sparkasse,Leipzig, Germany (2014); Heidelberg Kunstverein, Germany (2011); and the BullukianFoundation, Lyon, France (2010), among others.
Daniel Otero Torres has been a resident of the Villa Belleville (2015-2016); Moly-Sabata Residency in Les Sablons, France (2014); the Cité des arts de Paris (2011-2012),and L’atrape-couleurs in Lyon, France. He has been awarded the Hors les murs creation and research program award by the French Institute; the Price Rhône-Alpes de la Jeune Création, Rendez-vous 15, Biennale de Lyon; and the prize of the Conseil Général of the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Lyon.
