ArTIST bio

John Oteri was born in the historical East Texas town of Jefferson and grew up in the coastal city of Port Arthur. While attending Texas A&M, the College of Architecture, he developed an acute awareness of nature and how it is effected by man’s “built environment.” Most of Oteri’s paintings and drawings reflect this understanding of forced co-existence.

While he is basically self-taught, John’s background as an award-winning Architect has strongly influenced his contemporary style of painting in terms of composition and color. “White paper is very beautiful in itself and I find it very difficult to cover it all. As a result, my paintings tend to be vignette-like with a major center of interest. Because of this tendency, I feel the painting can be viewed either at a distance strictly as an abstract composition, or close-up, revealing the detail of the subject matter.”

Having spent a great deal of time in the Southwestern United States, John is inspired by those areas and uses them as backdrops for the majority of his work. “The great Southwest, with its beautiful people, varied geography and natural light is tremendously inspiring. I find it very fascinating attempting to depict how Man could have or actually does live within the restrictions imposed by this landscape.”