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William Otto

I am a representational artist working in a surreal, visionary style.
 
My art therefore, is as much about the world of three dimensional objects in three dimensional space, as it is about the imagination and the juxtaposition of representational images in a free form way that would suggest the dream experience.
 
A major thematic influence for my work is the Medieval practice of Alchemy as it applies to the psychic/spiritual dimensions of the creative process. This is especially so as it was interpreted by psychologist Carl Jung and mythologists Joseph Campbell, Henry Corbin and others. Another major influence was the 20th century Surrealists movement as it was expressed by the writings of Andre Breton and Surrealists artists from Spain, France, Germany and Belgium.
 
My work usually begins with a setting, or a staging if you will, that in some indescribable way resonates with me as a 'place' for an unorthodox event to happen.  The event is the creative process of bringing into being an imaginative composition of images that while representational, are in unconventional relationships of space and scale.  The setting can be natural or manmade (i.e. landscapes or architecture for example). 
 
The standard I impose on my compositions is that although they are a re-assemblage of the visual world, they must have an independent integral consistency; otherwise anything could come in and be distracting.  That filter of integral consistency has to do with an intuitive sense of maintaining a theme, even though the theme may not be fully understood to either myself or the viewer. The important element of the composition is that it be able to convey it's own reality.  In this way, the work becomes about something, much like a dream can be experienced as being about something, however indecipherable it may be.
 
I have chosen this type of creative work because through a combination of innate talent, life experiences and education, I have found fulfillment in envisioning the universe within while still being much influenced by the wonders of the universe at large. The creative process is my personal way of bringing art, myth and science together, as these realms of human enterprise represent both the personal interior world of imagination and mankind's need to explore and find meaning in the greater universe in which we live and have our being.