"For us, the idea of having a work that has contradictions is very important—when, in affirming something, it includes itself and attacks itself. How can you put together all of these things that have nothing to do with each other? You use glue! Glue can be an idea, a word. You can use an ideological glue."
—Allora & Calzadilla
Rashid Johnson Trades Art with Angel Otero
From the series, "New York Close Up"
About
How do artists make a fair exchange of one artwork for another? In this film, artist Rashid Johnson trades a new sculpture with fellow artist Angel Otero, opting for a new painting at Otero’s studio in Ridgewood, Queens. Friends and unabashed fans of each other’s work since they both attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the artists informally discuss the unlikely direction of Otero’s new text-based pieces as well as a few easel-sized paintings. Otero’s process involves applying thick layers of intensely saturated oil paints, peeling the sculptural “oil skin” off of a glass surface, and loosely draping the result over a canvas. In exchange for the piece Johnson picks, Otero selects a recent Johnson wall-mounted work: an angular wooden shelf piece, also representing a new “funky” direction in Johnson’s work. Johnson and Otero carefully calculate what an appropriate exchange would be at this point in their careers—negotiating market demand for their works and the pragmatics of displaying art in cramped New York apartments—playfully but thoughtfully testing the boundaries of their social and professional friendship.
Rashid Johnson (b. 1977, Chicago, Illinois, USA) lives and works in New York and Brooklyn, New York. Angel Otero (b. 1981, San Juan, Puerto Rico) lives and works in Brooklyn and Queens, New York.
CREDITS | New York Close Up Created & Produced by: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Editor: Mary Ann Toman. Cinematography: Andrew David Watson. Sound: Nick Ravich. Associate Producer: Ian Forster. Production Assistant: Paulina V. Ahlstrom, Don Edler & Maren Miller. Design: Open. Artwork: Rashid Johnson & Angel Otero. Thanks: Alex Ernst & Angel Otero. An Art21 Workshop Production. © Art21, Inc. 2011. All rights reserved.
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