With “coming forth by day,” a new exhibition at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Woody De Othello is expanding his vernacular.
“With recurring motifs, it’s almost like I’m developing a vocabulary,” the sculptor said. “So, the longer and longer I’m making art, the more words I’m adding to the vocabulary. With this show, there are these things that I always return to.”
The exhibition, which De Othello said is his largest to date, will last through June 28, 2026. Thematically, like much of his prior work, De Othello said the body of work currently on display at PAMM has to do with expressing ephemeral concepts through physical objects.
Woody De Othello’s exhibition at the Perez Art Museum Miami: “coming forth by day.”
(Courtesy of PAMM)
“For me, symbols make a lot of sense,” De Othello said. “Just thinking about the symbolic nature of the physical world — everyday objects have the propensity to lead us into the land of the unconscious.”
Before anything can be tangible, he said, it must first exist as an idea. That’s the driving force behind much of his recent work, he added.
“Before anything can be made physical, it must first be metaphysical,” he said. “I almost forget that everything in our man-made world is thought about, is designed, and then it takes an insane amount of physical labor to make it happen. Part of me is interested in the everyday, in that sense. But I also feel like there’s a way that the everyday world just points towards these more metaphysical thoughts and conversations. How do we use the mundane to see the larger picture?”
Woody De Othello’s exhibition at the Perez Art Museum Miami: “coming forth by day.”
(Courtesy of PAMM)
In particular, the larger picture that De Othello is interested in exploring via this exhibition has much to do with the reality of death and speculation as to what might come after. The name of the exhibition alone — “coming forth by day” — makes reference to the original title of the collection of Egyptian funerary texts commonly known as “The Book of the Dead.”
“There’s a lot of ways that I’m trying to make sense of the passage of time through everyday materials,” he said. “And like the Nkisi part of living, for me. I’m very much of the mindset that we’re more than our physical incarnation. How do we start to kind of make sense of being in a body and then eventually not being in a body?”
Woody De Othello’s exhibition at the Perez Art Museum Miami: “coming forth by day.”
(Courtesy of PAMM)
“I think there’s so many ways that these ancient civilizations developed these myths and systems of maneuvering through physical matter, maneuvering through the underworld, or the land of spirits,” he added. “How does all of this hold together, and how do we use the mundane to see the larger picture?”
All of the pieces, with the exception of one — “Ibeji,” which was made in 2022 — were created on commission for the show in the several years preceding it, according to PAMM curator Jennifer Inacio. De Othello’s main medium, which he’s been working with for the past decade, remains ceramics. But some of the forms it takes, the artist added, are new. Additionally, some pieces incorporate woodworking, which De Othello says he has never exhibited widely before.
Woody De Othello’s exhibition at the Perez Art Museum Miami: “coming forth by day.”
(Courtesy of PAMM)
“They’re very similar in the sense that ceramics has this natural feel to it, and working with wood also feels like working with a material that’s connected to the earth and connected to nature,” he said. “And having a novel approach to the studio, having things that I don’t know what the end result is going to be, where I have to learn a new type of skill, keeps me really engaged, in and out of the studio. I like setting up those things for myself, because that’s what makes creating art fun — stepping into the territory of the unknown.”
Inacio, who helped organize “coming forth by day,” says that De Othello made intentional use of the space at hand, particularly of the natural light that comes pouring in through the museum’s windows. He prioritized a slower-paced experience, she added, and they purposefully designed the exhibit to promote moments of reflection. Although he’s now based in California, Inacio said De Othello’s years living in Miami did influence the composition and layout of the exhibition.
“We tend to work very hand in hand with the artists and kind of guide them in a way that makes sense for Miami,” Inacio said. “With Woody, I didn’t have to do as much because he’s familiar with Miami. It’s his hometown. He knows the audience.”
Based on the feedback she’s been getting from visitors, Inacio feels that they attained their goal of making the exhibit feel like a cohesive whole.
“The full experience is about the show,” she said. “I think that was his initial idea too, of really creating an environment that’s not about the individual pieces, but about the feeling and experience of moving your body through this space. And I think we’ve been successful in creating that space.”