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.”
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