Opening reception: Friday, December 6, 6-11 PM
Artist talk facilitated by Malina Simone Jeffers: Saturday, December 7, 1 PM
The Murphy
Art Center, Fountain Square
1043
Virginia Avenue, Suite 5
Indianapolis
IN
Artist talk
From indymoca.org:
Toyin Odutola’s pieces evoke a multitude of feelings, like ones you might experience
when looking at an actual person.
Although her work mainly features characters rendered in black ink,
their appeal is universal. Odutola’s
work addresses issues of identity, and stand as a beacon in the storm of the
human experience.
Odutola
says of her work, “Where some may see flat, static narratives, I see a spectrum
of tonal gradations and realities. What I am creating is literally black
portraiture with ballpoint pen ink. I’m looking for that in-between state in an
individual where the overarching definition is lost. Skin as geography is the
terrain I expand by emphasizing the specificity of blackness, where an
individual’s subjectivity, various realities and experiences can be drawn onto
the diverse topography of the epidermis. From there, the possibilities of
portraying a fully-fledged person are endless.”
People
across the nation and in Indianapolis continue to find themselves in
challenging conversations about identity.
Regardless of what you may think about these issues, Odutola’s pieces
are alive in the way you can interact with them. People are often more open to
the conversations contained within art than to each other. And that is how
Odutola is helping change the art world and anyone who experiences her work.
It’s not art for a particular group of people. It’s art for anyone who
appreciates truth and beauty.
Toyin Odutola was born in Ife Nigeria in 1985.
She grew up in Alabama, received a B.A. from the University of Huntsville in
2008, then an MFA from the California College of the Arts. Her work has shown
in museums and galleries all across the United States. She is represented by
Jack Shainman Gallery and currently lives in New York City.
No comments:
Post a Comment