LOT 17: Andre Otto – Washboard

ABOUT THE ARTIST

André Otto is a fulltime professional sculptor who has been working in bronze for the past twenty years. While finishing his degree in Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria, he also completed his third year in Archaeology.

As the bronze medium dictates, his works find their birth in wax, his medium of choice. Because of the flexibility and melting properties of wax, it enables the artist to produce a wide range of shapes and textures – being able to attach, melt and mould together almost any kind of form.

The artist finds most of his inspiration in exploring abstract form, as well as in the objects of pre–historic times, giving his work an almost ancient quality, as if it might have been buried underground for hundreds of years. When studying his work, one might be reminded of objects such as ploughs, worker tools, primitive machinery, (perhaps driven on by water) and of other ancient implements. The onlooker might perhaps also be transported to an unknown world, full of strange objects.

One also becomes aware of the distinct raw quality of the patina on the finished bronzes, which reminds of ancient smelting processes in Africa, and of metals burned in underground fires. It then seems rather fitting that the artist should choose such an ancient working process as the Lost Wax Method, which has been used for hundreds of years, to produce metal objects.

Although his sculptures are predominately small in scale, they give the illusion of monumental stature and could also be seen as macqettes of much larger works. One could easily picture them in full scale at almost five meters high, etched against the landscape.