Mixed Media

Semi-transparent mixed media painting by Texas artist McKay Otto. Through layering thin, semi-transparent layers of fabric and paint over other background forms, Otto is able to create a deeper pictorial space and encourage the viewer to consider the relationship of light, color, and form. Signed, titled, and dated on reverse.

"My work sets the stage for asking, do we ever reach the unreachable ever… In consideration of the dimensional relationships that exist between drawing, painting, and sculpture, the work is obsessed with the expression of color, circle, light, line, and the way we perceive these things. The semi-transparent surface provides the opportunity to go within and transform traditional art ways. The process creating work that blur the distinction between the material and immaterial. The lines appear to hover in space as they cast colors, dematerializing themselves in the reflections. Despite what your eyes are telling you, the notion of being able to see beyond the surface changed the preconceived ideas of pictorial space and lends itself to meditation. Reflected and captured light passing through the surface, leads the viewer in to see beyond into the object‘s own ethereal timelessness. "

McKay Otto was born in Wharton, Texas and raised with an appreciation for the arts. While Otto has a BBA from The University of Texas in Austin, he also studied art and art history at the Glassell School located at the Museum of Fine Art in Houston. Otto was mentored by and received an informal art education through renowned contemporary minimalist painter, Agnes Martin. As Otto always regards his paintings as meditations, he intends his work to be experienced rather than read. Dealing with the themes of light, translucence, simplicity and silence, his work combines the quiet concentration of meditation with a focused intensity, which he often describes as “Trans-dimensional.” Otto has exhibited his work extensively in gallery and museum exhibitions across the Texas metropolitan areas of Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, as well as in NYC, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, and Aspen. Additionally, he was selected by noted art critic, Catherine D. Anspon to be published in her contemporary arts book, “Texas Artists Today.”

H 26 in. x W 26 in. x D 2.38 in.