Two Way Connection
2021
Contemporary artist Woody De Othello continues in the legacy of many West Coast artists of the 1960s and ’70s, using ceramics to explore complex themes around art, humanity, and connection. Here, a traditional ceramic vessel is anthropomorphized with eyes, ears, mouths, and hands and topped with a telephone receiver. Made during the COVID pandemic, the mutated figure reflects our own imperfect abilities to communicate and our human longings for connection. The familiar is rendered uncanny in an object that merges a disquieting humor with deep pathos.
Ceramic and glaze
Sculpture: 28 x 15 x 17 in. (71.1 x 38.1 x 43.2 cm)
Base: Height: 32 1/2 in. (82.6 cm), Diameter: 18 1/2 in. (47 cm)
Sculpture and base: 58 1/2 x 21 x 23 in. (148.6 x 53.3 x 58.4 cm)
Richard E. Lang and Jane Lang Davis Acquisition Fund for Global and Contemporary Art
2021.42
Provenance: The artist; [Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, California]; purchased from gallery by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2022
Photo: Scott Leen
