SHEBOYGAN, WI—An exhibition of ceramics by the artist Woody De Othello will be on view at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center from September 26, 2021 through September 25, 2022. Woody De Othello: Hope Omens presents a series of nearly 20 large anthropomorphic vessels based on African spiritual objects that, among other things, address the tumultuous civil rights issues of the last year. 

Woody De Othello is best known for his large-scale sculptures of domestic objects, which are often humorously depicted as oversized and/or melting. For Hope Omens, he presents an entirely new body of work.

Many of the sculptures were produced using molds that De Othello created during his Arts/Industry Pottery residency at the Kohler Co. factory in early 2020. While he was in residence, the world outside the factory began to shift with the beginning of the pandemic. The residency was cut short by several weeks and De Othello brought some of the molds home to continue his work, finding new meanings in his subject matter amidst the protests around the murder of George Floyd.

“Woody De Othello’s work has always been prescient in its combination of humor, history, and composition. But the saliency of this newest body of work speaks poignantly and pointedly about the time we are living in, reaffirming the role that artists can play in articulating a kinder and more just world for us all. The Arts Center is thrilled to be showing these works for the first time,” said Laura Bickford, curator, John Michael Kohler Arts Center.

De Othello draws on African minkisi, or objects that are believed to be invested with spiritual protection and energy. Breath and breathing are ideas often expressed in De Othello’s vessel-like forms covered in mouths. These concepts, and the power to deprive people of their breath and their ability to breathe, are now more highly charged.

In addition, many of his new works feature hands and arms, evoking embrace and consolation, or ears and mouths, offering meditations on listening, hearing, and being present. He frequently adds texts to his ceramics, a nod to the enslaved potter Dave Drake, who produced some one hundred thousand alkaline-glazed stoneware jugs between the 1820s and the 1870s. Drake incised many of them with poems and his signature, in clear defiance of the law forbidding enslaved people from reading or writing.

“Working has allowed me to process what is going on, with the convergence of the pandemic and social justice issues at this moment in time,” said De Othello. “I am moved and inspired by many elements—African ceramics, jazz music, Afrofuturism, and a brighter color palette. I also have been thinking about how vessels can be metaphors for emotional and physical space, and how we find comfort.”

A new sound piece by Oakland, CA, musician Cheflee will accompany De Othello’s sculptures. Made in response to the work in the exhibition, the ambient composition is designed to subtly guide the viewer through the space, creating an immersive environment. Some of the vessels will emanate sound from within, as if imbued with a spirit.

About Woody De Othello

Woody De Othello was born in Miami, Florida, in 1991. His first solo museum exhibition was held in 2019 at the San Jose Museum of Art. That same year his work was on view at Art Basel Miami Beach, and in 2018 his work was included in the FRONT International Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. Gallery exhibitions of his work have been held in New York, London, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. His work is in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; San Jose Museum of Art; and Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. He holds a B.A. from Florida Atlantic University and a M.F.A from California College of Arts. De Othello lives and works in Oakland, CA.