Daniel Otero Torres
Daniel Otero Torres was born in 1985 in Bogotá
He currently lives and works in Paris
The work of Daniel Otero Torres is grounded on the re-construction of ideology through often realistic 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. The artist’s unusual technique succeeds in creating a dislocation of materials as well as of contexts: his images often represent not a single individual but a visual and historical collage created from a number of sources: from antique archives and books, to found images in contemporary newspapers or online sources that reflect the artist’s process of understanding the role of marginalised or largely ignored populations that have, nonetheless, played essential roles in recent history around the world.
His works have been exhibited in numerous institutions such as the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2021); Drawing Lab Paris (2021); the MACAAL, Marrakech, Morocco (2020); the Espacio 23 of the Jorge Perez Collection, Miami (2019); La Tôlerie, Clermont Ferrand, France (2019); FLAX Foundation, Los Angeles (2019); Musée Régional d’Art Contemporain MRAC Sérignan, France, including his solo exhibition (Dé)placements (2017) and the collective show Bandes à part (2018); 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. In 2022 he participates at the Biennale de Lyon.
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’attrape-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.
Exhibition view, XVI Biennale de Lyon, 2022
Exhibition view, XVI Biennale de Lyon, 2022
Exhibition view, XVI Biennale de Lyon, 2022
Exhibition view, XVI Biennale de Lyon, 2022
Si no bailas conmigo, no hago parte de tu revolución, 2021 -Exhibition view, Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
Si no bailas conmigo, no hago parte de tu revolución, 2021 -Exhibition view, Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
Si no bailas conmigo, no hago parte de tu revolución, 2021 -Exhibition view, Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
Tierradentro, 2021 - Exhibition view, Drawing Lab, Paris. Photo: Olivier Lechat
Tierradentro, 2021 - Exhibition view, Drawing Lab, Paris. Photo: Olivier Lechat
Tierradentro, 2021 - Exhibition view, Drawing Lab, Paris. Photo: Olivier Lechat
Tierradentro, 2021 - Exhibition view, Drawing Lab, Paris. Photo: Olivier Lechat
Lluvia, 2019-2022 - Mixed-media Installation, exhibition view, MACAAL, Marrakech, 2020
Lluvia, 2019-2022 - Mixed-media Installation, exhibition view, MACAAL, Marrakech, 2020
Lluvia, 2019-2022 - Mixed-media Installation, exhibition view, La Tôlerie Centre d’Art, Clermont-Ferrand, 2019
Lluvia, 2019-2022 - Mixed-media Installation, exhibition view, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, 2022
Lluvia, 2019-2022 - Mixed-media Installation, exhibition view, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, 2022
Lluvia, 2019-2022 - Mixed-media Installation, exhibition view, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, 2022
Lluvia, 2019-2022 - Mixed-media Installation, exhibition view, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, 2022
(Dé)placements, 2017 -Exhibition view, Musée Régional d’Art Contemporain, Sérignan, France
1:12.5, 2017 - Installation including bamboo and 3500 bricks of terracota, detail)
Escalera V, 2018 - Concrete and mixed media on raw steel plinth
Escaleras, 2018-2019 -Concrete and mixed media on raw steel plinth
Time For Change: Art and Social Unrest in the Jorge M. Perez Collection - Exhibition view, El Espacio 23, Miami, 2019
La Arquitecta & Más cerca de las estrellas, 2019 - Pencil and colored pencil on polished mirror steel, steel structures
Más cerca de las estrellas, 2019 - Pencil and colored pencil on mirror polished steel, steel structure, detail
Borrachero, 2019 - Pencil and colored pencil on aluminium
Borrachero, 2019 - Pencil and colored pencil on aluminium, exhibition view, LACE, Los Angeles
Arctic White, 2020 -Ceramic, steel, graphite on mirror polished steel, detail
Arctic White, 2020 -Ceramic, steel, graphite on mirror polished steel
Desplazamientos, 2020 - Ceramic, pencil and colored pencil on mirror polished steel
Rendez-vous 15, Jeune Création Internationale / Biennale de Lyon - Exhibition view, IAC Villeurbanne, 2015
Pliegues, 2019 - Graphite on mirror polished steel, metal custom plinth
Fenêtres - Exhibition view, Domaine Lezigno, Béziers, France, 2017
Falda, 2016 - Graphite on aluminium, steel, exhibition view, Jeune Création, Paris, 2016
Falda, 2016 - Graphite on aluminium, steel
Minga, 2018 - Series of five drawings, graphite on paper
Minga (Alcarraza), 2018 - Graphite on paper, detail
Fenêtres, 2016 - Graphite on paper
Observatorio, 2017 - Graphite on paper
Geospiza, 2018 - Graphite on paper