Current Exhibition

Así Fue

Daniel Otero Torres was born in 1985 in Bogotá, Colombia.

He currently lives and works in Paris, France.

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 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. Upcoming projects include large

scale installations in La Tôlerie, Clermont Ferrand, France (2019); FLAX Foundation, Los

Angeles, US (2019); and Drawing Lab Paris, France (2020).

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 Prix 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.