Visionary Artist, Otto Neals, to Receive 1st Annual Motique Gallery Honors Award, Nov. 3rd 2007, for His Body of Work and Life Achievements

On Saturday November 3rd 2007, Otto Neals will be the recipient of the 1st Annual Motique Gallery Honors Award, for his body of work and his life achievements. The Otto Neals Exhibition will run Nov. 3rd thru Dec. 16th 2007 at The Motique Gallery. a unique venue providing a multi-sensory experience of art and creativity, in the warm, cozy and elegant setting of a classic Brooklyn Brownstone, resplendent with two fireplaces, fruit garden, finger foods and libations.

Brooklyn, NY (PRWEB) September 13, 2007

The Motique Gallery is proud and honored to present visionary artist, Otto Neals with its 1st Annual Motique Gallery Honors Award for his body of work and his life achievements. The Otto Neals Exhibition will run Nov. 3rd thru Dec. 16th 2007 at The Motique Gallery. The Motique Gallery now in it's 3rd year, is a unique venue providing a multi-sensory experience of art and creativity, in the warm, cozy, and elegant setting of a classic Brooklyn Brownstone, resplendent with two fireplaces, fruit garden, finger foods and libations.

Otto Neals, painter, sculptor and printmaker, was born to Gus and Della Neals in Lake City, South Carolina. At age four, his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he has lived ever since. Neals is basically a self-taught artist except for a brief course in oil painting at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and at the Bob Blackburn Printmaking Workshop studying with Roberto DeLomanica and Krishna Reddy.

In addition to painting and printmaking, he is proficient in stone and woodcarving. The late painter and sculptor, Vivian Schuyler Key, was largely responsible for his introduction to stone carving when she presented him with his first set of stone carving tools.

In 1951, he entered the U.S. Postal Service where he spent many years creating signs, posters and illustrations. One of his creations, a four feet by eight feet oak relief sculpture, is permanently displayed at the Brooklyn Post Office on Cadman Plaza in the Borough Hall section of Brooklyn. Neals and four other artists founded the Weusi Nyumba Ya Sanaa Gallery in 1967 in the heart of Harlem where it grew to be a global attraction before its closing. He was also involved in the Fulton Art Fair, which was founded, by Ernie Crichlow, Jacob Lawrence and others in 1958. His works are in public and private collections including the Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina, National Museum
of Ghana, The Library of Congress and The Smithsonian Institute among many others.

The private collectors include Randy Weston, Harry Belafonte, Oprah Winfrey and Mayor David Dinkins. He has been commissioned by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation and the Prospect Park Alliance to create a work of art in bronze for the "Imagination Playground" which is located in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Other commissions include ten bronze plaques for the "Harlem Walk of Fame" and a bronze work, entitled, "Discovery" for the Brooklyn Children's Center. Neals has been included in American Visions, Ebony, Everybody's, Sculpture and International Review of African American Art Magazines. He is also featured in Elton Fax's "Black Artists of the New Generation" and has illustrated "African Heritage Cookbook" by Helen Mendes, "We Are The Children of the Great Ancient Africans" by Dr. Barbara Jackson and "The Adventures of Tony Mark and David" by Lenchen C. DeVane.

Local Business Sponsors for this event include "Kitchen For Hire", "Shane's" and "Shaz Gallery". The proprietors of these businesses, Priscilla Maddox, Joan Reid, Luther Williams and Sharon "Shaz" Williams has each been instrumental since the inception of The Motique Gallery. Mary Romeo, Coordinator of Outreach & Community Partnership Services Sponsorship of The Central Branch of The Brooklyn Public Library represents this cultural institution's involvement in the evolution of The Motique Gallery as well as other local businesses. All are thrilled to be among those coming together to honor the living legend, Otto Neals.

The Motique Gallery
Bashiri & Monifa Johnson, Proprietors
Ogundipe Fayomi, Curator
http://www.motiquegallery.com
1-877-MOTIQUE
1-718-361-3456
364 Sterling Place, Brooklyn, New York

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