Cut

From the Artist

Why is the title Cut? 

The title of this piece refers to the situation that occurs diagonally through the middle of the work. The dramatic juxtaposition of the two spaces creates a dynamic situation of visual slippage. On one hand, I am making reference to the question of unity within a visual space. At the same time, I am commenting on the display of difference, and how differences can be coexistent. 
_{— From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records} 

The organization and patterning in the paintings are of my own design. I continue to explore in the paintings a metaphoric ability to address the human condition through pattern, structure and design, as well as for its possibility to trigger memory. The colors I use are personal: they reflect the collection of visions from my travels locally and globally. This is also one of the hardest aspects of my work as I try to derive the colors intuitively, hand mixing and coordinating them along the way. In my process, I cannot make a color twice- it can only appear to be the same. This aspect is important to me as it highlights the specificity of differences that exist in the world of people and things.
_{— From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records} 

In my paintings, I am dealing with memory, the presence and absence of experiences removed; nostalgia for a lost past, and the hope for something new and better.
_{—From https://www.artsy.net/artwork/odili-donald-odita-cut-1, accessed 7-6-2021}

[Odili Donald Odita] is best known for his large-scale canvases with kaleidoscopic patterns and vibrant hues, which he uses to reflect the human condition. 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. In his paintings, we see color interwoven and mixed, becoming an active agent in representing the essential power that light has in identifying the entirety of our world. He thinks of his colors as agents to express thoughts, ideas, and transformational change. Much of his color selection is based on personal memories and created intuitively by hand-mixing, so that no two shades are ever repeated.

Born in Nigeria and raised in the American Midwest, Odita’s work is also heavily inspired by a sense of dual identity, combining aspects of Western modernity with African culture. His practice speaks to a contrast of cultures and a desire to create something new from a set of distinct parts. In this sense, his paintings, like a stitched or quilted textile, are weavings from different spaces, times and various temperaments, which convey the complexity of culture, identity, and being.
_{—From https://jackshainman.com/artists/odili_donald_odita, accessed 7-8-2021}