Toyin Ojih Odutola’s series of pastel paintings pay tribute to the Nigerian noble family and offer a unique and personal visual experience. The artist utilizes common objects and environments, but rehashes their appearance in her own idiosyncratic style. The movement and vitality embodied in the wriggling pastel patterns fights against her calculated composition and the rigid canvas frame. These are not generic artistic techniques, but bold innovative risks taken by the artist. The overwhelmingly bright ripple-like textures create fuller identities for the figures accentuate the space between them. Using her unique technique, Odutola brings an undeniable sense of life and excitement to the canvas. Hers sentimentality, humanity and individualism are reflected through the unique hues each figure is painted in.
It may be nitpicking to say the artist’s scientifically inaccurate use of dazzling and illusional shading makes the paintings flat and two-dimensional. However, indeed, In some of her larger paintings, because of the overly repeated techniques, the depth and saturation seem to be missed out as well.
While I appreciate the detail of your description of the exhibition I would urge you to do further research in the future. The family depicted is completely fictional which adds an interesting layer to the work. I think you would've gotten a deeper understanding of the show had you known this. Additionally, I am interested to know more about the "scientifically inaccurate use of... shading" that you touch upon at the end of your critique. I am interested to hear more about this versus the sense of liveliness you also talk about earlier in your piece.
ReplyDeleteThere are two lines within your review which resonate most, "The movement and vitality embodied in the wriggling pastel patterns fights against her calculated composition and the rigid canvas frame. These are not generic artistic techniques, but bold innovative risks taken by the artist." The compositions of her paintings do feel extremely calculated while her brush stroke feels much more organic and I value your use of words such as "wriggling" and "innovative risks." In contrary, I find your description of the artist as having "sentimentality, humanity and individualism" to be quite vague and rather lacking a depth of understanding of the artist. Furthermore, I would argue that the paintings do have lots of contrast, especially in the clothing and many of the deep/light color choices within the scene. In addition, next time I would recommend having a friend review your work prior to publishing to check for grammatical issues, such as "However, indeed, In," and referring to the artist as "hers."
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ReplyDeleteToyin Ojih Odutola’s series of pastel paintings “When Legends Die” concludes the fictional stories of Nigerian noble family depicted in her work and ends Odutola’s own three-year process of experimentation. “When Legends Die” reveals a unique and personal visual experience. The artist utilizes common objects and environments but rehashes their appearances in her own idiosyncratic style. The movement and vitality are embodied in the wriggling pastel patterns, which fights against her calculated composition and the rigid canvas frame. These are not generic artistic techniques, but bold innovative risks taken by the artist.
The humanity, individualism and authenticity are remarkable elements shared both on the canvas and within the story. The vibrant ripple-like textures create vitality for the figures, accentuating lively atmosphere in the whole picture. Through her unique technique, Odutola brings an undeniable sense of life and excitement to the canvas. She first developed this series with experimenting pastels and charcoal in life-size figures. While using patterns elaborately depicted by fine lines with different movements, each figure suggests distinctive identities and characteristics in the fiction she created. Details added in the background and subtle facial expressions makes the story appear more convincing to the viewers. When reading through the sentiments from the surreal scenes, authentic humanity is revealing also.