Otto was born on the 24th of March 1914. After attending mission school he worked as a stockman, carpenter, shearer and gardener. He later served on the Native Council at Hermannsburg.
Otto started painting in 1940. Over the next few years he painted intermittently, working between a conservative and totemic approach to the landscape. It was not until the mid 1940s that Otto found the confidence to paint freely in his own vision. Encouraged by Edwins success and told by Rex Battarbee to paint the landscape as he saw it, he made tremendous progress, selling all 48 paintings in his first solo exhibition in 1947.

Otto painted in a flamboyant style which others didnt dare encroach. While some artists were criticized for shadowing Alberts luxury, Otto took a new approach and incorporated traditional Arrernte mythology into the Western format. The outcome was truly amazing. Otto succeeded in giving the landscape a new dimension exclusive to his Aboriginal ancestry. Rex Battarbee writes, At times when I have seen faces and forms worked into Ottos paintings and have asked him if he put them into his pictures on purpose, he has said that they were in the landscape as he had painted it- Modern Australian Aboriginal Art 1951.
In the early 1940s Otto struggled to succeed in the commercial market. Rex Battarbee writes, he was unable to progress beyond a certain point and that his first pictures were nocturnes and lacked colour (Modern Aboriginal Art 1951). During 1946 Otto made tremendous progress. With new found confidence he painted pictures like, Cliff Face(top left). This remarkable work depicts a tree set in front of cliff where every rock seems embroiled in rhythmic pattern. Towards the end of the 50s his works became darker and more brooding, perhaps an indication of exploration of his sacred mythology. In the early to mid 60s Ottos work took on new life. His palette became filled with brighter colours and style echoed earlier works but with even more repetition of his tribal motif. One of his trademark signatures, the ghost gum, took on a highly spiritual presence in the form of the immortal ancestor. The mountains, constructed with geometric patterns, emphasized powerful creation centres. This natural and uninhibited evolution could be seen as Ottos patented style. In this final stage of his creation Otto produced some truly remarkable artworks with dreamtime narratives taking on a life of their own.