Erik Otto

Read our full interview on news.1xRUN.com!

"These paintings are a part of ongoing series that I began back in the summer of 2018. After noticing many of my life philosophies could be related back to water, I decided to double down on the theme and produce a collection of paintings expressing the many symbolic qualities of the most important natural element.

"Building off the theme of water, the goal was to utilize a color palette, movement, and a type of mark-making that pushed the theme. The more recent textural work has introduced cement, plaster, grout, rock salt and gravel contrasted by white or colored neon lights. The whole concept is based on creating a sense of unexpected wonder." ––Erik Otto

Erik Otto is a mixed-media artist working professionally in the creative disciplines of painting, sculpture and site-specific installation for over 10 years. Erik has held exhibitions nationally in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington DC and internationally in Vancouver, Mexico City, and Berlin. He was selected for the SF Recology Artist-in-Residence Program, received the VSCO Artist Initiative Grant, and produced work for YBCA Bay Area Now 7. He currently has work held in the private collections of the Grand Hyatt, Microsoft, LinkedIn, One Medical Group, and Uber.

Avid cyclist, explorer of the outdoor world, and firm believer of taking risks, he once self-initiated and self-funded a 6-month long artist residency in the middle of Mexico City that resulted in a pop-up exhibition in an abandoned building just prior to it’s demolition.

Erik grew up in the South Bay Area, lived in San Francisco for 12 years, and is now based in Brooklyn, NY.