seeing both sides, 2025; seeing both sides maquette, 2024; Don’t Pick Up, 2017

seeing both sides explores the idea of balance, what exists at the intersection of choice, and how we can be in tune with change. After conceiving a figure that embodies these concepts, Othello constructed a small clay model (or maquette) for the eventual larger-than-life bronze sculpture that was recently gifted to Montalvo by the Lipman Family Foundation. This maquette was a critical and necessary step in testing and developing a final composition that required great delicacy in the sizing, placement, and orientation of the figure’s head and limbs. 

Installed on the front lawn of Montalvo near the large bunya pine, the seven-foot-tall patinated bronze figure has an arresting severed head with two faces; its face is right side up on one side, and upside down on the other. Its limbs extend in four directions. The figure’s legs and feet point outwards, while its raised arms and hands point inwards, holding up a head in the shape of a vessel or jug.  

Othello created seeing both sides with a specific axis of directionality in mind – the intersection of divinity and humanity. He was inspired by other objects with an axis: compasses, crosses and sundials. He also drew from Dogon cosmology and beliefs which emphasize that our bodies are vessels and containers for spirituality, alignment, and balance. Dogon, an ethnic group native to the central plateau region of Mali, West Africa, believe in complementary opposites, and the connection between earth, the stars, and the planets. Within this cosmology, the horizontal axis represents the realm of earth, a plane of reality, existence, and societal expectations. The vertical axis is a direct line to our higher self and the energy that propels us into the future. Within the figure of seeing both sides, both realms coexist and move in dialogue with each other.      

Woody De Othello has long been fascinated by everyday objects such as telephones, typewriters, clocks, radios, and fans. In his hands, they morph and provide witty and sharp social commentary. He often gives them humanistic qualities, rendering them in a way that is humorous and relatable. 

Othello favors placing his objects on ceramic stools or vitrines which serve as an essential part of the overall composition. A stool is humble, yet highly functional. It can be a needed resting place for lengthier conversations. A telephone that is connected to a transmission wire harkens back to a time when one had to be physically present in order to answer and speak with the caller. You couldn’t move very far, or do other things, if you chose to engage.  

By distorting and warping a telephone, an object that is used for direct and real-time communication, he calls attention to our habit of ignoring and disengaging with each other. His tongue-in-cheek title, Don’t Pick Up, challenges us to look inward and examine why we avoid talking to each other. Perhaps we are so deeply buried in our individual concerns that we resist letting other voices and views intrude into our space.    

seeing both sides is displayed on the upper Front Lawn under the bunya pine.

seeing both sides maquette and Don’t Pick Up are displayed in the Cottage Gallery, located near Parking Lot 2. The Cottage Gallery will be open Thursday to Sunday from 11am–3pm (or by appointment). If you would like to make an appointment, please email lap_programs@montalvoarts.org.