We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Johnny Otto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Johnny, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
When I was about 9-10 years old my father took me to the Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit to see some of the art that I had only, up until that time, seen in art books. The museum had all of the classical, well known artists and these amazing Renaissance paintings, most of which I had seen in books or at least heard about. But there was this mysterious room in the museum filled with a type of artwork which I had never seen in photos or even heard about: African Art. I was transfixed, amazed and even, you could say, haunted by what I had seen. For years I would doodle on my notebooks in school, these tribal looking figures that I remembered experiencing. Ever since then I have been trying to recreate the energy and emotion that I felt.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started showing my artwork over 3 decades ago in Windsor Ontario, the small town in Canada where I grew up. While my style was a long way from where it is now, I definitely had the passion and dedication to pursue art from a very young age. Once I left Canada, when I was 25 years old, and moved to Los Angeles in 1990, I began showing my work at exhibits, networking and even donated a piece for auction at the Divine Design for Project Angel Food which was hosted by David Hockney. He was the first famous artist that I had met. This was a very encouraging time for me and I pushed myself to create new work every year which would break me out of my comfort zone and allow me to do shows through Los Angeles. From 1990 till today, I have done countless shows, trying my best to have a new show every year or two.
Over the years I met a great deal of Artists who did not know how to promote themselves or were lacking confidence in their art and I wanted to create a way to promote their work, so in 2020 I started Art Squat Magazine to do just that. In the last two years the magazine has featured both well-known and lesser known artists from all around the world.
This Summer, on September 14th, we are hosting our first art event at Compound Gallery which is run by RISK. The show is going to feature some amazing artists including RISK, Plastic Jesus WRDSMTH, Billy Morrison, Svetlana Talabolina, Mark Estes, Dave Navarro, and more.
I am very proud of all the work I have done with the magazine and how it has also helped fellow artists grow their audience, give them confidence and allow us all to feel like we are part of a much bigger, growing and exciting community of artists.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
One thing that people can do to support the arts is to go to museums, shows, buy a piece of art from a friend or family member who is an artist. I remember seeing this documentary called “Herb and Dorothy” about Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, a postman and a librarian, respectively, who had been collecting contemporary art since the 1960s. In the process, they have redefined what it means to be an art collector. They literally bought a piece of art from every artist that they could and now their collection is priceless. I am not saying that you have to be like them, but collectively we should all collect art, appreciate the role that creative people play in society and encourage organizations that donate to artists. Start an art blog or magazine, go to shows, spend time visiting Artist studios when they have open showings, teach your kids to paint or go to art classes, become the artist you always wanted to be. Art drives the creative spirit and intellect of our society. Without artists, nothing would exist.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
The main lesson involves my attempts at getting into galleries and how important it is to become part of an art community. Network and become friends with other artists. The artists you meet and befriend are more important to your growth, in most cases, than the gallery owners. They are your family. They will push for you in unexpected ways. I wish I had known that earlier in my career. When I first began I would just walk into galleries and try to show them my work and of course they were not interested because they didn’t know who the heck I was and nobody had referred to me. I’d say that 99% of the shows I have done are because I met an artist who introduced me to a gallery director or something like that. Community, friends, are the bedrock of any artist’s career.
Contact Info:
- Website: ottophobia.com
- Instagram: ottophobia
- Facebook: ottophobia
- Other: buyartsaveacrazyperson.com