Los Angeles, CA – Hostler Burrows is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Carlos Otero in Los Angeles.
Carlos Otero is an Argentinian architect, designer and artist based in New York, whose hand built ceramic sculptures are a fascinating combination of both primitive and futuristic aesthetics. At once architectural and biomorphic, they are imbued with the artist’s energy — dynamic, animated and playful — and invite us into Otero’s unique world with their weighty presence.
Inspired by Brutalist and Primitive architecture, Le Corbusier, and the mud architecture of Mali, Machu Picchu and Cappadocia in particular, Otero interprets the forms, colors and textures from these movements and utilizes their inspiration to inform his own practice.
Otero’s process begins with preliminary sketches, compelling in their own right, which he translates into hand-built ceramic forms. Large scale murals grow from modular geometric elements evoking lunar landscapes and secret code, while Otero’s intimate sculptures and lamps suggest other worldly beasts, benign and slightly menacing all at once.
Born and raised in Argentina, Otero studied architecture at the University of Buenos Aires. In 1996 he relocated to New York City and founded the interior architecture firm Carlos Otero Design in 2001. Otero’s interests shifted toward the fine arts in 2010, and he spent two years in Hong Kong intensifying his practice and studying the ceramic medium.
