The artist Woody De Othello (b. 1991, Miami) is best known for ceramic sculptures that render anthropomorphized everyday objects that range from intimate (the size of your regular wall outlet) to monumental (eight-to-ten feet tall). Despite what he calls a “traditionalist” educational foundation, De Othello takes an experimental approach to his medium. For example, seeking to upend established practices, he cold glazes his larger pieces with paints and then coats them in resin to realize the high polish of conventional glazes on a larger scale. He freely blends associations to Californian Funk, French Surrealism, African ceramics, and Blues in objects that are at once witty and woeful, endearing and heartbreaking.

Fountain references the taps on an old Victorian sink that was in the artist’s Oakland apartment. “I kept imagining that these faucets were analogies for hot and cold moods or fiery and calm temperaments . . . the creative and destructive powers of water spirits in Indigenous cultures. But Fountain is also about abundance and scarcity, access and denial . . .remembering the human right to life-giving water. Over a billion people around the world don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. I think of this every time I wash my hands, particularly in this pandemic age of hygiene where the recommendation to wash hands aims to prevent death. In that context, Fountain also commemorates the generous history of fountains in town squares—their generosity, openness, and relatability. And the way they act as landmarks of community. There is an obvious nod to art history with Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, but the main historical reference for me is to Robert Gober’s sinks. His are the objets banals, the essential thing we take for granted.”