Born in 1985, Ife, Nigeria.
Artist Statement:
"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."
Education:
2012. MFA, California College of the Arts
2008. BA in Studio Art and Communications, University of Alabama in Huntsville
2007. Norfolk Summer Residency for Music & Art, Yale University
Solo exhibitions:
2021. Toyin Ojih Odutola: A Countervailing Theory, Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark
2020 - 2021. Toyin Ojih Odutola: A Countervailing Theory, The Curve, Barbican Centre, London, UK
2020. Tell Me A Story, I Don’t Care If It’s True, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, New York
2020. Tell Me A Story, I Don’t Care if It’s True, Jack Shainman Gallery (Online virtual exhibition)
2018. When Legends Die, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, New York
2018. Toyin Ojih Odutola: The Firmament, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
2018. Scenes of Exchange, 12th Manifesta Biennial, Orto Botanico di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
2018. Toyin Ojih Odutola: Testing the Name, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia
2017 - 2018. Toyin Ojih Odutola: To Wander Determined, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
2016 - 2017. A Matter of Fact: Toyin Ojih Odutola, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, California
2015 - 2016. Of Context and Without, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, New York
2015. Toyin Ojih Odutola: Untold Stories, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
2014. Like the Sea, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, New York
2013 - 2014. The Constant Wrestler, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA), Indianapolis, Indiana
2013. My Country Has No Name, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, New York
2011. Toyin Odutola: (MAPS), Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, May 26–June 25, 2011.
2008. Toyin Odutola: A Colonized Mind, University Center Gallery, Huntsvillle, Alabama
Selected group exhibitions:
2021. Unexpected Surfaces, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania (until 15 August 2021)
2021. Plural Possibilities & the Female Body, Henry Art Gallery, Faye G. Allen Center for the Arts, University of Washington
2020 - 2021. Defying the Shadow, RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island
2020 - 2021. i’m yours: Encounters with Art in Our Times, ICA Boston, Massachusetts
2020 - 2021. UBUNTU: Harry David Art Collection, National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens, Greece
2020 - 2021. Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia
2020. Jean Francois Prat Prize, Sélection de l'édition 2020 Exhibition, Bredin Prat Foundation, Paris, France
2020. Nine Lives, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois
2020. Duro Oluwo: Seeing Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
2019 - 2020. Driving Forces: Contemporary Art from the Collection of Ann and Ron Pizzuti, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio
2019 -2020. Nicolas Party: Pastel, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York
2019 - 2020. EMBODY, Mandeville Gallery, Union College, Schenectady, New York
2019 - 2020. I Am...: Contemporary Women Artists of Africa, National Museum of African Art (Smithsonian), Washington D.C.
2019. Prospect, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, California
2019. Future Generation Art Prize @ Venice 2019, 58th Venice Biennale, Palazzo Ca’Tron, IUAV University, Venice, Italy
2019. Plumb Line: Charles White and the Contemporary, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, California
2019. Drawn Together Again, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York
2019. Future Generation Art Prize Exhibition of Shortlisted Artists, PinchukArtCentre, Kiev, Ukraine
2019. Show Me as I Want to Be Seen, The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California
2019. Damn! The Defiant, Fredericks & Freiser Gallery, New York, New York
2019. Art on Paper 2019: The 45th Exhibition, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina
2019. Presence: Meditations on the Spelman College Collection, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
2019. Highlights From the Sweet Briar Collection, Pannell Gallery, Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, Virginia
2018 - 2019. Pulse, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas
2018 - 2019. Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of The Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art, Mennello Museum of American Art, Florida
2018 - 2019. For Opacity: Elijah Burgher, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Nathaniel Mary Quinn, The Drawing Center, New York, New York
2018 - 2019. In This Imperfect Present Moment, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
2013. Ballpoint Pen Drawing Since 1950, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut, (March 24–August 25).
2013. The Moment for Ink, Chinese Cultural Center, San Francisco, California, (February 23–March 23).
2013. Singular Masses: An Examination of Racial Identity, Memphis College of Art, Hyde Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee, (January 23–March 9).
2013. Black Hair: Black Identity, Iona College Chapman Gallery, New Rochelle, New York, (January 20–February 21).
2013. The Progress of Love, Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, (December 1, 2012–March 17).
2013. Fore and Gordon Parks: A Harlem Family 1967, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, (November 11, 2012–March 10).
2012. Falling Through Space Drawn by the Line, UB Art Galleries, University at Buffalo, (September 20–December 8).
2012. Afro: Black Identity in America and Brazil, Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, New Mexico, (June 1–August 31).
2011. Geoffrey Chadsey, Toyin Odutola and Artifacts from Nagaland, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, (October 13–November 12).
2011. Frontrunners: The San Francisco Foundation 2011 Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship Awards Exhibition, SOMArts, San Francisco, (August 17–September 16).
2011. The Black Portrait, Rush Gallery, New York, curated by Hank Willis Thomas and Natasha L. Logan, (March 31–May 21).
2011. Ουροβόρος | Ouroboros: An Exhibition & Reading, California College of the Arts Writer's Studio, San Francisco. Curated by Toyin Odutola and Nick Johnson.
2011. Selections on View, Contemporary Galleries of Birmingham Museum, Alabama
2010. Common Ground, ARTLAB33 / Art Space, Miami. Curated by Onajide Shabaka.
2008. Flesh and Bone: Mixed Media Exhibition of Bodies and Nature, Madrone Lounge, San Francisco. Curated by Leila Fakouri.
2008. Misc. Womanhood, Ori: Center for African Diasporic Culture, Oakland, California. Curated by Muinat Kemi Amin)
2008. UAHuntsville Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition, Huntsville, Alabama
2008. Panoply Festival of Arts, Huntsville City Council for the Arts, Huntsville, Alabama
2007. Yale/Norfolk Summer Art Program Student Exhibition, Norfolk, Connecticut
2007. Huntsville City Summer Art Stroll, Huntsville, Alabama
2006. UAHuntsville Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition, Huntsville, Alabama
Awards and Grants:
2011. Murphy and Cadogan Fellowship Award
2008. Erzulie Veasey Johnson Painting & Drawing Award, UAHuntsville
2007. Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship Grant, Yale/Norfolk
Residencies:
2012. Tamarind Institute, New Mexico
2012. Flying Horse Editions, College of Arts & Humanities at the University of Central Florida
Public Collections:
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.