Otto Neals

Born in South Carolina, Neals moved to New York at the age of four and displayed a passion for painting from a young age. Neals studied commercial art at George Westinghouse Vocational High School, and briefly attended the Brooklyn Museum Art School.^[4] Neals studied under notable artists such as Isaac Soyer, Krishna Reddy, Mohammed Khalil, Roberto DeLomanica, and Vivian Schuyler Key.^[5]

Neals has been a member of the Weusi Artist Collective since the 1960s.^[6]

Neals has been commissioned to execute several public works, including ten bronze plaques for the Harlem Walk of Fame, a 20-foot mural in Kings County Hospital, a bronze of Percy Sutton at the City University of New York, and a bronze monument inspired by the children's book Peter's Chair as centerpiece of an Imagination Playground in Prospect Park.^[2][4] His work is exhibited in the Smithsonian Institution, Howard University, and the Columbia Museum of Art.^[7] He features in the private collections of John Lewis, Harry Belafonte, and Oprah Winfrey,^[8] and was the subject of an exhibition in the gallery inside the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch at Grand Army Plaza.^[2]

In June 2015, the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation held a 50-year retrospective of his sculptures.^[9]

Neals is a founding artist of the Fulton Art Fair, the oldest Black visual arts event in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.^[10]

Neals has been the recipient of the New York City Art Commission's Award for Excellence in Design.^[11]