Profile: Otto Neals

Boyce

            Standing in front of old wooden green building in Crown Heights, Brooklyn I waited patiently for Mr. Otto Neals to show.   Peeking through the black grate style gates into a large gallery full of beautiful paintings and sculptures, hoping I would see someone.  I must have knocked on the window for at least an hour until I gave up.  With just my luck my phone was dying so I was unable to reach Mr. Neal’s and the area was very isolated so there was nowhere to charge my phone.   I peered through the glass window until it started getting dark and then made my way to the train.  Otto Neal’s is a remarkable artist who is proficient in multiply mediums and mostly self-taught.   He has been exhibited in many museums from The Schomburg Museum to the Smithsonian. People such as Oprah Winfrey to Harry Belafonte buy his work for their personal collection.

Born in South Carolina Otto Neal’s family relocated to Brooklyn when he was four years old.  Watching his older cousin David sketch began his fascinations with art.  Studying commercial art in high school his artistic talents flourished with encouragement by his teachers. He received his first pair of stone cutting tools from Vivian s. Key, a sculptor from the Harlem renaissance, who encouraged him to learn stone sculpture.  He worked as the head illustrator at United States Postal Services for 36 years.  Neals’ work has been published in a number of books and periodicals including: Who’s Who in American Art, We Are the Children of the Great Ancient Africans, by Barbara Jackson, African Heritage Cookbook, by Helen Mendes and Black Artists of the New Generation by Elton Fax.  He work can be seen all over the country and internationally.   He exhibits every year at the Fulton Art Fair for the last 35 years. Neals was commissioned by the New York City Parks Department to design and create a large bronze sculpture that is to be place in the Imagination Playground in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The sculpture is based on Peter and Wille, by Ezra Jack Keats.

Otto Neals is proficient in painting, sculptor, printing, woodcut to collage. This contemporary black artist addresses the political issues, culture, and personal issues.   His around seems to all center around the idea of the African people.  The artist try’s to capture the essence of the African diaspora. Most of his paintings are of people standing still and a few are landscape.  His collages contain very abstract images with controversial meanings.  The collage The Coming Forth created a fuss because it was an image of Jesus portrayed as a black man with dreadlocks. The collage upset many people was not show in some galleries.  His work is detailed and speaks for itself.  His works makes me think about my culture.

One of my favorite pieces from Otto Neals is Peter and Willie because it reminds me of my childhood. Growing up I remember reading lots of Ezra Jack Keats. I also spent many days playing in Prospect Park. The sculpture captures the innocence of a child while he is playing with a dog.  This sculpture blends in so well with the park and is very realistic down to the curl pattern in the little boys hair.  This piece features a little boy reading a book with his dog in the imagination playground.  The sculpture is based on Peter Chair by Ezra Jack Keats.

By just googling Otto Neals hundreds of links come up from different websites and blogs. Even though I wasn’t able to find many actual reviews, I did look at many of the comments posted online about his work. For the most part people loved it. They said it was beautiful and the sculptures meticulously done. The art viewers also got his message of black pride in all his art work. The art almost communicates with its audience.