Otto Duecker

2017 Distinguished Alumni

B.A. Art Education '70

Otto Duecker was born in Milwaukee but raised in the Netherlands, Turkey and Germany before his family settled in Oklahoma. Duecker earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Oklahoma State University. He went on to teach for a decade while developing his unique approach to painting the human figure in precise detail.

 

Duecker’s early work focused on marginal members of society. He first received national recognition in the 1970s for his “Drifters” series of stark, life-size cutouts of street people. Duecker has been exploring his own variation of New Realism for over 40 years, and he has fascinated audiences with his plays against human expectations of formal presentation of works of homage while also startling audiences with his precision and eye for beauty.

 

His fascination with history and the impact one individual can have in shaping and changing the perception of our world led him to his most recent “icon” series. The “trompe l’oeil” paintings are snapshots of famous artists, celebrities and political figures taped to cracking surfaces. Duecker’s work has been exhibited throughout the country and Europe and can be found in major private and public collections.