ABOUT THE ARTIST
Erik Otto is a painter, muralist, and mixed media artist working in NYC with commissions and collections placed around the world. His work is a colorful, glowing response to a life laced with loss, reunions, and recoveries. Erik Otto is here, now.
A San Francisco Bay Area native, Otto graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in Illustration. With 20 years of experience, he has produced work with an ever-evolving choice of materials that have been exhibited nationally and internationally. His work is held in multiple private collections, including Google, Adobe, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Uber, AIA, Grand Hyatt, RedBull, Andreessen Horowitz, and multiple others.
Otto currently lives and works in New York City.
ABOUT THE WORK
My work lives in the space between loss and renewal, between the seen and hidden. After losing my sister-in-law, close friend, father, and mother in close succession, the ground beneath me began to shift. Grief unraveled the familiar, and in that, something quieter and more enduring began.
This new series reflects a departure. I let go of the circular forms that once anchored my work, breaking my cycle of comfort. Instead, I am creating landscapes that are fluid, open, and atmospheric. Pours of saturated color, washes pulled and dissolved, create surfaces that feel still and fleeting, yet heavy with presence.
My materials represent my journey: transformation, transmutation, renewal. With soft blends of color, I try to map the spirit that lingers beyond matter. The auras. The soul. The memories. The weightless form of love through grief.
This work holds contradictions. They echo the turbulence of sudden loss, the push and pull of identity untethering, and the slow, imperfect rebirth that follows. Each piece is built from layers that wash away and return again, pulling apart and building up, asking the viewer to linger in the unresolved.
The palette is shifting too, shaped by intense emotion and showing those rare moments of clarity that follow upheaval. It reflects our world when it is turned sideways and invites us to stand still in the flux and listen.
My work isn’t about answers. It’s about creating the right conditions for something unseen to appear. About capturing the moment when shock quiets into stillness, when grief and grace meet, when life, in all its turbulence, begins again. This is my attempt to paint what cannot be named. The spirit that moves within us. The fragments from the past we carry. The places where loss gives way to find beauty in uncertainty.
SOLO & SPLIT EXHIBITIONS
2022
Heron Arts, San Francisco, CA, Alchemy
2020
Heron Arts, San Francisco, CA, Chromatherapy
2019
321 Canal Street (Wallplay), New York, NY, WAVES
2017
384 Broadway, New York, NY, From One Place to the Next
SummerSchool, San Francisco, CA, From One Place to the Next
2015
Luna Rienne Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Rising Sun
2014
Heron Arts, San Francisco, CA, Rising Tides
2013
Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, BC, Canada, In Search Of
ReUrbano, Mexico City, Mexico, Distancia
Luna Rienne Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Searching For Higher Ground
2012
933 Treat Studios, San Francisco, CA, A Full Days Work
2011
White Walls, San Francisco, CA, Project Room
2010
White Walls, San Francisco, CA, Tomorrow is Never Promised (1)
Fabric8, San Francisco, CA, Tomorrow is Never Promised (2)
Recology SF, San Francisco, CA, The Last Shall Be First
2009
Beta Lounge, Berkeley, CA, WORKS
Charmingwall Gallery, New York, NY, Silence Speaks Volumes
2008
Design Within Reach, Palo Alto, CA, Recent Works
The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA, The Sea of Change
Gallery Three, San Francisco, CA, The Calm Before the Storm
2007
The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA, A Long Way Home
Cal State San Marcos, San Marcos, CA, Rooted Dreams
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Visionary Projects, New York City, NY, West Village Salon
2019
Heron Arts, San Francisco, CA, Press On
American Giant, San Francisco, CA, The American Flag: Interpreted 2
2018
Joint Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, Pop & Street
Luna Rienne Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Quintessential
Brilliant Champions. Brooklyn, NY, Sum of All Parts
American Giant, San Francisco, CA, The American Flag: Interpreted
2017
South Street Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, All In
Heron Arts, San Francisco, CA, Together
Athen B Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2-Year Anniversary Show
2016
Prjct OMNI, Traverse City, MI, A Theory of Contemplation
The Yard, Brooklyn, NY, Recent Works (curated by Silence is Accurate)
Marin MOCA, Navato, CA, Waste Not
Athen B Galery, Oakland, CA, New Radius
Joseph Gross Gallery, New York, NY, Night & Day
Space236, San Francisco, CA, The Balance
2015
Athen B Gallery, Oakland, CA, CO-LAB
Inner State Gallery, Detroit, MI, Lyric III
Ampersand International Arts, Mexico City, Mexico, Carry On
2014
YBCA, San Francisco, CA, Bay Area Now 7
2013
SFO Museum, San Francisco, CA, The Art of Recology
Hyatt Regency Hotel, San Francisco, CA, Project Grand SF
Adobe Backroom Gallery, San Francisco, CA, We Had Nothing To Do And We Did It
Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA, PARADE
Asterisk Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Future Culture
2012
Fabric8, San Francisco, CA, Color Theory
Project One Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Symbols
Ace Museum, Los Angeles, CA, All in for the 99%
323 East Gallery, Detroit, MI, Lyric 2012
2011
Gallerie NeuroTitan, Berlin, Germany, Permaculture
Mallick Williams & Co., New York, NY, Spectrum
941 Geary Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Indoor Mural Project
Double Punch Gallery, San Francisco, CA, There is No Telling
Gallery Hijinks, San Francisco, CA, The Letter Collector
2010
Primary Flight / Art Basel Miami, Miami, FL, Fresh Produce
Katzen Art Center, Washington DC, Ghost Market x Catalyst
Re:Form School, New York, NY, Re:Form School
941 GEARY, San Francisco, CA, A New Beginning
Intersection For the Arts, San Francisco, CA, 45th Anniversary
Manifest Equality, Los Angeles, CA, Manifest Equality
White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Never a Dull Moment
Fabric8, San Francisco, CA, 1(4) Years
2009
The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Terrestrial Syndrome
Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, Annual Benefit Show
Shadow’s Space, Philadelphia, PA, Climb in the Back Window
2008
Charmingwall, New York City, NY, Tiny Big Top Show
Reaves Gallery, San Francisco, CA, If These Walls Could Speak
2007
Project:Gallery, Culver City, CA, Head in the Trees
2006
Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Brave Art
Compound Gallery, Portland, OR, Supernal
Thinkspace, Los Angeles, CA, Square Foot Show
Corey Helford Gallery, Culver City, CA, Halloween Show
Thinkspace, Los Angeles, CA, Triamese
2005
The Lab 101 Gallery, Culver City, CA, The Birdhouse Show
Gallery Anno Domini, San Jose, CA, Fresh Produce
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2014
Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, BC, Canada
2013
ReUrbano, Mexico City, Mexico
2009
Recology San Francisco, AIR Program, San Francisco, CA
AWARDS & HONORS
2014
VSCO Artist Initiative, grant recipient
2011
SFAC Art in Storefronts, grant recipient
ARTIST LECTURES
2021
Artist Talk, Art 01, San Jose State University
CURATIONS
2023
Seed Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Between The Lines
2024
Seed Gallery, San Francisco CA, Spectrum
PUBLIC & PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Grand Hyatt
San Francisco, CA
Google
Sunnyvale, CA
Andreessen Horowitz
San Francisco, CA / New York City, NY
Capital One
New York City, NY
Adobe Systems, Inc.
San Jose, CA
Glassdoor
San Francisco, CA
Microsoft Inc.
Seattle, WA
Cooper Steel
Nashville, TN
American Institute of Architects
San Francisco, CA
LinkedIn
Sunnyvale, CA / Omaha, NE
Martinkovic Milford Architects
San Francisco, CA
One Medical Group
San Francisco, CA
UBER Technologies
Palo Alto, CA
Lululemon
San Francisco, CA
Addepar, Inc.
New York, NY
Level 23
Oakland, CA
505 W 19th
New York City, NY
YARA Digital Labs
Berlin, Germany
Workshop Cafe
San Francisco, CA
Apothecarium
San Francisco, CA
