Overview
Woody De Othello exhibits a new large-scale, patinated bronze at Frieze Sculpture, co-presented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, Jessica Silverman and Karma. Curated by Fatoş Üstek, this will be Othello’s first large-scale public artwork presented in Europe.
Woody De Othello is internationally celebrated for his emotive and inventive approach to ceramics that transforms everyday objects through animism and anthropomorphism. Titled seeing both sides (2024), Othello’s seven-foot tall bronze for Frieze Sculpture stands confidently in the face of change and embraces multiplicity. During its creation, the artist was inspired by tools and shapes with an axis like compasses, crosses, sundials, and Dogon sculptures, which often feature bilateral symmetry. His towering bronze directly engages with Dogon cosmology and beliefs that bodies are vessels and containers for spirituality, alignment and balance.
In seeing both sides, the figure is doubled or quadrupled, with limbs extending in all four directions. While bent legs point outwards, raised arms and hands face inward to cradle the head. Complementary opposites are arranged around a central axis, connecting the earth to the sky. Indeed, the figure symbolises unity among differing perspectives, co-existing in harmony.
Woody De Othello exhibits a new large-scale, patinated bronze at Frieze Sculpture, co-presented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, Jessica Silverman and Karma. Curated by Fatoş Üstek, this will be Othello’s first large-scale public artwork presented in Europe.
Installation Views
