TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary

Daniel Otero Torres

Daniel Otero Torres (b. 1985, Bogotá) is a Paris-based multidisciplinary artist whose work spans sculpture, installation, ceramics, painting, and drawing. His practice is anchored in drawing, which serves as the connective thread across his diverse media. Renowned for his photorealistic renderings on monumental cut-out steel structures, Otero Torres explores the interplay between material and context through a unique technique that blurs the line between drawing and sculpture.

His imagery often fuses archival materials, historical sources, and contemporary media into composite portraits that reflect on resistance, revolution, and collective memory. In recent years, ecological concerns have emerged in his work, engaging with themes of environmental justice and the impact of global capitalism on indigenous communities and biodiversity.

Otero Torres has exhibited widely at prestigious venues and events including the 60th Venice Biennale (2024), Lahore Biennial (2024), Currier Museum of Art (2024), Les Abattoirs (2024), Kyiv Biennale (2023), Lyon Biennial (2022), Palais de Tokyo (2021), MACAAL (2020), and Espacio 23 (2019), among others.

He has held residencies at Villa Belleville, Cité des Arts, and Moly-Sabata, and received accolades such as the Hors les murs award from the French Institute and the Prix Rhône-Alpes de la Jeune Création.

Related works in the collection

Daniel Otero Torres Amigos Ancestrales, 2024

Daniel Otero Torres
Abrazos III, 2022

Daniel Otero Torres
Los abrazos del viento, 2023

Daniel Otero Torres
Si no bailas conmigo, no bailas conmigo, 2021

Related program

The Ecologies of Peace

The Ecologies of Peace II Exhibition