Tom Otterness Art
American, b. 1952
Tom Otterness was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1952. By 1970 he had arrived in New York to attend the Art Students League, followed by The Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Otterness redefines the tradition of cast bronze figurative sculpture by using whimsical cartoon-like figures to make critical commentaries on political and social issues. Not only do his sculptures vary in size from colossal to minute, they also address a wide range of emotions and experiences. Their placement in parks, subway stations, and other public areas around the country allow the works to be appreciated by people from all walks of life. Otterness’s combination of unforeseen subject matter and fanciful characters makes his work universally appealing.
Otterness works mainly in bronze sculpture, but his ideas have been realized on paper in the form of drawings and etchings. The unique, simplified forms he creates to convey thought-provoking themes succeed in whichever medium Otterness employs. He currently lives and works in New York City.
Otterness has received a number of public commissions across the United States and abroad, and he is represented in many public collections including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York; Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel; IVAM Center Julio Gonzalez, Valencia, Spain; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico; Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York.to
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Artist: Tom Otterness
Macy's Humpty Dumpty unique, signed Ceramic Plate by famed sculptor iconic image
By Tom Otterness
Located in New York, NY
Tom Otterness
Macy's Humpty Dumpty Ceramic Plate, 2006
Glazed ceramic plate
Signed and dated on the rim 'Tom Otterness 1/19/2006'
13 1/2 in diameter
Unframed
Provenance:
The Estate o...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Tom Otterness Art
Materials
Ceramic, Glaze, Mixed Media
Gold-Plated Earrings, Limited Edition signed, with famous penny man and woman
By Tom Otterness
Located in New York, NY
Tom Otterness
Gold-Plated Earrings, ca. 1995
Pair of gold-plated earrings
Anatomically correct (man and woman) with penny
Signed with incised signature TOM OTTERNESS on the verso of the circular penny shape.
1 3/4 × 1 1/4 × 1/4 inches
Unframed
An irrepressible and unforgettable gift. These anatomically correct, signed vintage gold plated earrings of figures dangling from a replica of a U.S. penny by public sculptor Tom Otterness are real collectors items. Although the edition is unnumbered, the artist has stated that approx 200 were created. The artist has also confirmed to us that these earrings were originally made as gifts to close personal friends and associates, so he did not sell them on the open market and did not make them again after the initial group. They are quite rare and desirable. In 2013, these works sold at Phillips auction house for US $2,750.
Wonderful, racy conversation pieces. Wearable art which would also look terrific framed hanging in a small shadow box.
About Tom Otterness:
Tom Otterness was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1952. He came to New York City in 1970 to study at the Arts Students League, and in 1973 took part in the Whitney Independent Study Program. In 1977 he became a member of Collaborative Projects, a pioneering community of independent artists, and took a leading role in organizing Colab’s 1980 Times Square Show, which was called “the first avant-garde art show of the ‘80s” by the Village Voice. Otterness is one of a handful of contemporary artists invited to design a balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, for which he devised a tumbling Humpty-Dumpty in 2005. Otterness lives and works in New York.
Otterness may well be “the world’s best public sculptor,” as the art critic Ken Johnson opined in the New York Times in 2002. Public art is his focus, and Otterness has had major outdoor exhibitions of his sculptures on the Park Avenue Mall in New York (2003), in more than a dozen sites in downtown Indianapolis (2005), on the grounds of the Beverly Hills city hall (2005-06) and throughout Grand Rapids, Michigan (2006). His first solo exhibition, held at Brooke Alexander Gallery in New York in 1983, featured elements of The New World (1991), a white plaster frieze of 250 nude “Ur-people,” as essayist Hayden Herrera called them, eventually destined for the plaza of the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles, a General Services Administration commission.
In the U.S., Otterness has completed at least three dozen public commissions, including Life Underground (2004), his celebrated multi-figural bronze sculpture installation for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Agency at the 14th Street station on the Eighth Avenue subway lines. His international commissions include public plazas in Münster, Germany (1993), Toronto, Canada (2007), and Seoul, South Korea (2010), and a large public park in Scheveningen, the Netherlands (2004). In 2013, Creation Myth, a gateway park for the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, N.Y., was dedicated.
Otterness has exhibited his work at John Berggruen Gallery in San Francisco, and other important contemporary art galleries. His most recent exhibition, Metal on Paper: Silverpoint, Copperpoint & Steelpoint Drawings, opened at Marlborough in September 2015. Works by Otterness are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Eli Broad Family Foundation, the Brooklyn Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Carnegie Museum, the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and others. He was elected a member of the National Academy in 1994.
Most recently, Otterness has installed The Tables from the collection of the Whitney and 50 new sculptures in niches at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, as part of the group exhibition, The Value of Food. On a personal note, Otterness has practiced Tai Chi, martial arts, and boxing in the school of William C. C. Chen since the 1970s, and his studio features a boxing bag...
Category
1990s Contemporary Tom Otterness Art
Materials
Metal, Gold
Angry Father, family sculpture in bronze
By Tom Otterness
Located in New York, NY
A lively and important work that would bring animation to any interior.
Though he has been called “the world’s best public sculptor,” by art critic Ken Johnson, Tom Otterness’ playfu...
Category
1980s Realist Tom Otterness Art
Materials
Bronze
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"Small Sunflower" is a sculpture by Tom Otterness. The sculpture is edition 3 of 6.
Tom Otterness was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1952. He came to New York City in 1970 to study at the Arts Students League, and in 1973 took part in the Whitney Independent Study Program. In 1977 he became a member of Collaborative Projects, a pioneering community of independent artists, and took a leading role in organizing Colab’s 1980 Times Square Show, which was called “the first avant-garde art show of the ‘80s” by the Village Voice. Otterness is one of a handful of contemporary artists invited to design a balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, for which he devised a tumbling Humpty-Dumpty in 2005. Otterness lives and works in New York.
Otterness may well be “the world’s best public sculptor,” as the art critic Ken Johnson opined in the New York Times in 2002. Public art is his focus, and Otterness has had major outdoor exhibitions of his sculptures on the Park Avenue Mall in New York (2003), in more than a dozen sites in downtown Indianapolis (2005), on the grounds of the Beverly Hills city hall (2005-06) and throughout Grand Rapids, Michigan (2006). His first solo exhibition, held at Brooke Alexander Gallery in New York in 1983, featured elements of The New World (1991), a white plaster frieze of 250 nude “Ur-people,” as essayist Hayden Herrera called them, eventually destined for the plaza of the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles, a General Services Administration commission.
In the U.S., Otterness has completed at least three dozen public commissions, including Life Underground (2004), his celebrated multi-figural bronze sculpture installation for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Agency at the 14th Street station on the Eighth Avenue subway lines. His international commissions include public plazas in Münster, Germany (1993), Toronto, Canada (2007), and Seoul, South Korea (2010), and a large public park in Scheveningen, the Netherlands (2004). In 2013, Creation Myth, a gateway park for the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, N.Y., was dedicated.
Works by Otterness are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Eli Broad Family Foundation, the Brooklyn Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Carnegie Museum, the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and others. He was elected a member of the National Academy in 1994.
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CAT
By Tom Otterness
Located in New York, NY
Tom Otterness
Cat, 1997
Soft Ground Etching
21 1/2 × 15 1/2 inches
Edition 7/10 AP
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Etching
Man and Woman - Educating the Rich
By Tom Otterness
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Tom Otterness, American (1952 - )
Title: Man and Woman - Educating the Rich (Black)
Year: 1993
Medium: Etching, signed and numbered in pencil
Edition: 4/25
Size: 11 x 11...
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One Cent and Globe Sculpture
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I have a pair. the price is for one. you can buy one or both. they are cast in hydrocal.
Tom Otterness (born 1952) is an American sculptor best known as one of America’s most prolific public artists. Otterness's works adorn parks, plazas, subway stations, libraries, courthouses and museums in New York City—most notably in Rockefeller Park in Battery Park City...
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Year: 2010
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Tom Otterness art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Tom Otterness art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Tom Otterness in metal, bronze, mixed media and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Tom Otterness art, so small editions measuring 2 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Jedediah Morfit, Ron Nagle, and Mayme Kratz. Tom Otterness art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $3,500 and tops out at $29,000, while the average work can sell for $5,725.