Vocabularies: Mixed media drawings by John Otter

About

John Otter was born and raised in San Diego, California, where he began his art career as a printmaker. He received his BFA from the School of Art Institute of Chicago, and studied at the New York Studio Program. 

Otter fell in love with drawing at an early age, filling sketchbooks with pen and ink drawings that hint at the abstract style he would return to later in life. Repetitive patterns, concentric circles, stippling and cross-hatching have remained an integral part of his drawings. 

His recent work on paper strives to harmonize disparate concepts, merging notions of the synthetic and the organic, cities and nature, circuitry and water. 

Using a variety of techniques and devices, Otter is interested in simplifying complex feelings, ideas and states of mind into visual playgrounds with space for the eye and mind to wander through and explore.