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Otis Quaicoe: (s)kin deep
The following description was submitted by the event organizer.
Since Otis Quaicoe’s move from Accra, Ghana, to Portland in 2017, his figural paintings have adjusted and shifted in congruence with a heightened cultural awareness of his relocated body. As he looked at Blackness and race in American society from the perspective of an African immigrant, Quaicoe became more interested in depicting the nuances of skin tone that emerge in velvety grayscale.
In common with artists like Robert Pruitt and Amy Sherald, Quaicoe’s models are real people with whom he finds connections. This small body of work reflects Quaicoe’s interest in these individuals through portraits, studying not only the skin but the colors and expressions of identity through clothing. Quaicoe’s paintings offer rich, impasto textures in backgrounds and skies that reflect the stucco walls of traditional Ghanaian homes.