Odili Donald Odita - Artforum · 2013. 4. 19. · Odili Donald Odita Grey March 15 – April 19,...
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Odili Donald Odita Grey March 15 – April 19, 2013 opening reception Friday, March 15, 6-9pm beta pictoris gallery is excited to announce Odili Donald Odita’s solo show Grey. Grey is a collection of important works on paper, created by the artist over the past ten years, from 2003/04 to very recently (January/February 2013), and gives an intimate view into a very personal body of work. Never before shown work on paper by this celebrated artist, from small scale pencil and gouache drawings on paper, phrasing earlier, figurative concerns, to intriguing, recently created "technique mixte" collages and gouaches on photocopied photographs, as well as new abstractions of sheer spiritual simplicity, Grey allows us to understand the artist's passion for composition and beauty, while allowing us a rare insight into the artist's relationship with humanity. Odili Donald Odita was born in Enugu, Nigeria, and raised in the United States, and in his work he brings aspects of African, European, and American cultures into play. His hard-edged abstract paintings explore contemporary notions of space and the confluence of personal memory and cultural history. Odita draws on an array of traditional, technological, and art-historical influences; everything from African textiles and patterned wallpaper to electronic music, television test patterns, and late-modernist painting. He is currently an Associate Professor of Painting at Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, and from 2003-2005 he was a Visiting Critic in Painting at Yale University School of Art. For Odita, color in itself has the possibility of mirroring the complexity of the world as much as it has the potential for being distinct. “What is most interesting to me is a fusion between cultures where things that seem faraway and disparate have the ability to function within an almost seamless flow. The fusion I seek is one that can represent a type of living within a world of difference. No matter the discord, I believe through art there is a way to weave the different parts into an existent whole, and where metaphorically, the notion of a common humanity can be understood as a real choice.” beta pictoris gallery / Maus Contemporary 2411 Second Avenue North Birmingham, AL 35203 www.MausContemporary.com (205) 413.2999 PRESS RELEASE -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE image: Blue Prince, 2013, gouache, charcoal pencil, collage on photocopy, ca. 11 by 8.5 in.
Transcript of Odili Donald Odita - Artforum · 2013. 4. 19. · Odili Donald Odita Grey March 15 – April 19,...
Odili Donald OditaGrey
March 15 – April 19, 2013
opening reception Friday, March 15, 6-9pm
beta pictoris gallery is excited to announce Odili Donald Odita’s solo show Grey.
Grey is a collection of important works on paper, created by the artist over the past ten years, from 2003/04 to very recently (January/February 2013), and gives an intimate view into a very personal body of work.
Never before shown work on paper by this celebrated artist, from small scale pencil and gouache drawings on paper, phrasing earlier, figurative concerns, to intriguing, recently created "technique mixte" collages and gouaches on photocopied photographs, as well as new abstractions of sheer spiritual simplicity, Grey allows us to understand the artist's passion for composition and beauty, while allowing us a rare insight into the artist's relationship with humanity.
Odili Donald Odita was born in Enugu, Nigeria, and raised in the United States, and in his work he brings aspects of African, European, and American cultures into play. His hard-edged abstract paintings explore contemporary notions of space and the confluence of personal memory and cultural history. Odita draws on an array of traditional, technological, and art-historical influences; everything from African textiles and patterned wallpaper to electronic music, television test patterns, and late-modernist painting. He is currently an Associate Professor of Painting at Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, and from 2003-2005 he was a Visiting Critic in Painting at Yale University School of Art.
For Odita, color in itself has the possibility of mirroring the complexity of the world as much as it has the potential for being distinct. “What is most interesting to me is a fusion between cultures where things that seem faraway and disparate have the ability to function within an almost seamless flow. The fusion I seek is one that can represent a type of living within a world of difference. No matter the discord, I believe through art there is a way to weave the different parts into an existent whole, and where metaphorically, the notion of a common humanity can be understood as a real choice.”
beta pictoris gallery / Maus Contemporary2411 Second Avenue NorthBirmingham, AL 35203www.MausContemporary.com(205) 413.2999
PRESS RELEASE -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
image: Blue Prince, 2013, gouache, charcoal pencil, collage on photocopy, ca. 11 by 8.5 in.
