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Otterness: Private studio of the very public artist

By Lauren Johnston | lauren.johnston@newsday.com

October 4, 2007

Subway commuters who pass through the 14th Street and 8th Avenue station are well-acquainted with Tom Otterness, even if the name doesn't ring a bell right away.

Otterness is one of the city's most prolific creators of public art and more than 100 of his small bronze sculptures depicting city life with a certain satiric flair have taken up permanent residence at this Manhattan subway hub.

In one alcove, an alligator creeping out from a manhole cover has trapped a tasty commuter in its jaws and a short distance down the platform a man clutching a money bag sits on a bench waiting for the train.

But like his many other public works, they were born in a warehouse studio along an industrial strip of Brooklyn.

This weekend, as part of the Open House New York program, those who enjoy Otterness' public artworks will have a rare opportunity to peer inside this private world where his ideas take shape and come to life first on paper then as wax or clay molds and finally cast in the familiar bronze.

In an interview at his Gowanus studio, the artist said opening his doors to the neighborhood seemed like a logical progression of his mission: getting people to interact with art.

This will be the second year Otterness opens his studio to the public for an open house tour and he says the reactions and curiosity serve as good feedback.

"Having all these people come in seemed like a natural fit," he said. "I get the public into the creative process and get reactions as the work is progressing."

The Otterness studio is a yawning garage-like cavity painted entirely white and scattered with sculpture in various stages of completion.

A narrow file cabinet has drawers labeled "Rich People" and "Blue Collar." Each is filled with Barbie-height wax figures, policewomen or the artist's signature moneybag heads, to be cast in bronze.

Sketches and paintings of his Humpty Dumpty-inspired Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade balloon decorate one wall and a giant white plaster mold of his work "The Consumer" stands in the middle of the room.

The bronze version of this and other large pieces will be on display at the Marlborough Chelsea gallery through Nov. 3.

The fifth annual Open House New York runs through the weekend and will offer free tours and programs at more than 300 significant sites of architecture and design that are usually hidden from public view, from the rooftop gardens at Rockefeller Center to the Kushner Residence, a duplex constructed from found materials like subway doors.

Open House New York Weekend Presented by Target, Oct. 6-7. Call 212-991-6469 (OHNY) or visit www.ohny.org for details. Some programs have limited space and require advance registration.