ART CITIES:N.York-Toyin Ojih Odutola
Toyin Ojih Odutola is a contemporary artist who focuses on identity and the concept of skin color through her pen, ink, and charcoal drawings. Toyin was born in Ifé in 1985. When Toyin was nine years old, her parents moved the family from Nigeria to Alabama in the U.S.A., Alabama is very conservative and has a long history of racism and segregation.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Whitney Museum Archive
For “To Wander Determined” her first solo museum exhibition in New York, Toyin Ojih Odutola presents an interconnected series of fictional portraits, chronicling the lives of two aristocratic Nigerian families. Ojih Odutola is uniquely aware of how perceptions of the artist can alter the perceptions of the artwork, and not always for the better. Though her work, consisting of vague and evocative pen and ink drawings, is sociopolitical to begin with, she knows that because she is a black woman that critics and viewers of her work will always try and attach their own ideas of blackness and racial politics to it. “With that, people are going to ask you about blackness all the time” she says. “Because of who I am, the construct is before me. So I have to deal with the concept of being black”. The artist creates intimate drawings that explore the complexity and malleability of identity. Depicted in her distinctive style of intricate mark-making, her sumptuous compositions reimagine the genre and traditions of portraiture. Rendered life-size in charcoal, pastel, and pencil, Ojih Odutola’s figures appear enigmatic and mysterious, set against luxurious backdrops of domesticity and leisure. They, and the worlds they inhabit, are informed by the artist’s own array of inspirations, which range from art history to popular culture to experiences of migration and dislocation. Highly attentive to detail and the nuances of space, class, and color, whether of palette or skin, Ojih Odutola continues her examinations of narrative, authenticity, and representation.
Info: Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, Duration: 20/10/17-20/2/18, Days & Hours: Mon, Wed-Thu & Sun 10:30-18:00, Fri-Sat 10:30-22:00, https://whitney.org
