Paia Contemporary Gallery

McKay Otto

Original Artwork

About The Artist
McKay Otto’s work has been featured in over 90 exhibitions nationally and internationally since 1989. His awards & grants include the 2008 ‘Hunting Art Prize’ finalist and a ‘Art Grant Award’ presented by the Cultural Arts Council of Houston Texas. McKay’s paintings are widely collected and his work has been highlighted in over 25 publications including the Huffington Post & Sante Fe’s ‘THE’ Magazine.

Artist Statement
“In consideration of the dimensional relationships that exist between drawing, painting, and sculpture, this work is concerned with freeing two-dimensionality in painting. The specially formulated transparent nylon “canvas” provides the opportunity to work within and transform the traditional support of painting.  As the rigidity of the planar support becomes dissolved, the circumstance arises to create works that are inwardly divisible and outwardly expanding. The implementation of the grid serves as a drawn formal structure that both stabilizes the surface of the art object while simultaneously creating passages for the viewer to literally see beyond. This notion of being able to see beyond the surface directly truncates the preconceived necessity of pictorial space and frees it to exist within the context of its own physical embodiment.  This current body of work may serve as a metaphor for humanity’s capacity to transcend itself.” -McKay Otto

Selected Exhibitions

2012
Paia Contemporary Gallery, Paia Maui HI
Tansformation 2012, Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston TX

2011
TRUTH: SUBLIME BEYOND WORDS, DEBORAH COLTON GALLERY, HOUSTON,TX
POSITIVE PERCEPTIONS, COLTON & FARB GALLERY, HOUSTON,TX
NEW WORKS, DRASNER GALLERY, ASPEN,CO
LIGHT CUBED, J CACCIOLA GALLERY, NYC,NY

2010
MOMENT+MEMORY=TIME, Positivism Project . Miami, FL
POSITIVISM PROJECT, Miami Beach Art Fair, Miami, FL
Texas State University Gallery, San Marcos, TX
Dallas Art Fair, W W Art, TX
Abstractions, Pan American Art Projects, Miami, FL
Solo Show, W W Art, Houston, TX

2009
Solo Show, Blue Star, San Antonio, TX
Texas Twelve, State Survey, Wichita Falls Museum of Art. Wichita Falls, TX
University Of Texas San Antonio, TRANSPAREN/TRANSLUCENT, San Antonio, TX
Affordable Art Fair NYC, Tag Art Gallery, Nashville, TN
DCAD Art Fair, Pan American Art Projects, Dallas, TX
Time For Change, Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, TX
Solo Show, Pan American Art Projects, Dallas, TX
Artennae, Basel-Miami Art Fair, Miami, FL

2008
Solo Show, Ever Self Ever, Pan American Art Projects, Dallas, TX
Texas Twang, Shift Gallery, Seattle, WA
Time For Change, Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, TX
Neiman Marcus Group Show, Houston TX

2007
Los Angeles Contemporary Art Fair with Pan American Art Projects (Dallas), L.A., CA
Palm Springs Contemporary Art Fair with Pan American Art Projects (Dallas), Palm Springs, FL
DCAD Art Fair with Pan American Art Projects, Dallas, TX
Solo Exhibition at TAG art gallery, Nashville, TN
Solo Show at An Arte Gallery, San Antonio TX
“Camp Marfa” with G Gallery (Houston), Marfa, TX
“Art Depot” with G Gallery (Houston), Lubbock, TX
“String – A Multi-Media Message”, Latino Cultural Arts Center, Houston, TX

2006
“McKay Otto,” Lemmons Contemporary, New York, New York
Solo Show, Pan American Art Projects, Dallas, TX
“Art of Motion” Group Show, Lemmons Contemporary, New York, NY
“Beth Nielson Chapman’s Peace Jam” with 10 Nobel Peace Prize winners including the Dalai Lama & Desmond Tutu, Denver, CO

2005
“McKay Otto: Every Place” + gallery, Denver, Colorado

2004
“McKay Otto: Infinity,” Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
Private Showing, Trans Space, New York, New York
Scope Art Fair, Los Angeles, California (Booth: Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia)
Affordable Art Fair at the Piers, New York, New York (Booth: Jennifer Kostuik Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia)
10th Anniversary Show, Karan Ruhlen Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2003
“Amercian Six,” Sergio Tossi Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy Bologna
Art Fair, Bologna, Italy (Booth: Sergio Tossi Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy)

2001
“McKay Otto,” Karen Ruhlen Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
“McKay Otto,” Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, Texas
“The Box,” Hooks-Epstein Gallery, Houston, Texas

2000
“McKay Otto,” Joan Grona Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
“McKay Otto,“ Jaqueline Loyd, Taos, New Mexico
“McKay Otto,” Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas, Texas

1999-1996 Highlights
1999 Jaqueline Lyod Taos, New Mexico
1998 Sculpture, Barbara Davis Gallery Houston, TX
1998 Group Exhibition, Heriard-Cimino Gallery New Orleans, LA
1996 – 1997 Inside Out, Conduit Gallery Dallas, TX
1997 McKay Otto: For All Kind, Jung Center Houston, TX
1997 McKay Otto, Conlon Siegal Galleries Sante Fe, New Mexico
1997 McKay Otto: Infinite, Barbara Davis Gallery Houston, TX
1996 Convergence, Barbara Davis Galley/Pennzoil Place Houston, TX

Selected Bibliography
Goddard, Dan – Express News Art Beat, Sept.28,2007, review
Anspon, Catherine D. “Space, Light and Art: Painter McKay Otto’s Galveston Aerie,” PaperCity, March 2004, pgs. 28 – 31.
Laget, Mokha. “All Shapes and Sizes: Compelling Examinations of Humanity,” Santa Fe Reporter, June 13 – 19, 2001.
Carver, John. “McKay Otto: Paintings and Sculptures,” The Magazine (Santa Fe), July, 2001
Anspon, Catherine D. “McKay Otto at Jung Center,” Art in America, exhibition review, February 1998, pg. 110.
Waddington, Chris. “Looking Back at 1997: State of the Arts in N.O,” New Orleans Times Picayune, January 2, 1998.
“All that Jazz: The Traveling Collector”, Art and Antiques, October 1997.
Waddington, Chris. “Sculpture carves out niche for itself,” New Orleans Times Picayune, September 19, 1997, illus.
Anspon, Catherine D. “McKay Otto: For All Kind,” New Art Series Catalogue, Richard Wood and McKay Otto Exhibition, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, July 25-September 14, 1997, illus.
Anspon, Catherine D. “McKay Otto’s Voyage to the Infinite,” Public News, January 15, 1997, Issue #761, pp. 8-9, illus.
Johnson, Patricia. “Exhibit from 7 private collections says a lot,” Houston Chronicle, August 6, 1994.
Johnson, Patricia. “Art on the Edge,” Houston Chronicle, July 4, 1994.
“Sculpture on the Green,” Museum and Arts Houston, November 1993
Johnson, Patricia. “Exhibit exceptional in its variety,” Houston Chronicle, October 14, 1993.
Chadwick, Susan. “Sculpture on the Green offers delightful, insightful works,” The Houston Post, September 9, 1993.
Chadwick, Susan. “Controversy entangles barbed-wire artists,” The Houston Post, August 31, 1993.
“Transforming Junk into Art”, Museum and Arts Houston, October 1992.