Artist Angel Otero has spoken about his collaboration with global music star Bad Bunny, describing it as a validation of his cultural heritage. Otero, who is also Puerto Rican, contributed to Bad Bunny's La Casita set used during the musician's 31-show residency in Puerto Rico last year. 'When I was invited, of course, I accepted,' Otero said. 'The replica is a very similar setting to the one I grew up in.'
Otero, 45, was born in the Santurce neighbourhood of San Juan. His childhood was spent in his grandmother Maria Luisa's apartment in Bayamón, which has become the central subject of his dreamlike, large-scale paintings. The works feature flowers, furniture and photographs floating against turbulent seas, directly referencing his early home.
The artist is known for his distinctive technique of applying paint skins—sheets of dried oil paint—to canvas, a method he developed as a student in Chicago. 'The worked, sculptured surfaces express the tensions within us,' he explained. His latest exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Somerset includes a diptych based on a photograph of his grandmother holding him on his first birthday.
Otero admitted he previously felt uncomfortable putting his personal story in the spotlight. 'I felt I was opening a door, but I couldn't let people out,' he said. The exhibition features a painting of a door opening in a flower-covered sea, and a sculptural door installed in the ground at the gallery. His new works reflect his journey as a father and his relationship with his terminally ill father and late grandmother.
