biography / bibliography
ODILI DONALD ODITA
Born in 1966, Enugu, Nigeria.
Lives and works in Philadelphia
EDUCATION
1998
ART/OMI, International Artist Residency
1990
M.F.A., Bennington College, Vermont
1988
B.F.A. (with Distinction) Ohio State University; Excellence in the Arts
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010–2011
Musee d’art de Joliette, Quebec, Canada
2010
Body & Space, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, November 18–December 23, 2010.
Perspectives 169: Odili Donald Odita, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, February 11–May 2, 2010.
2009
Up & Away (permanent installation),Butler Commons, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, October 9, 2010.
Television, Ulrich Project Series, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, Kansas, April 9–April 26, 2010.
2008–2009
Third Space, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, September 5, 2008–December 6, 2009. Exhibition organized by Stamatina Gregory. (Brochure)
2008
Double Edge, Michael Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, October 16–November 22, 2008. (Catalogue)
2007–2008
Equalizer, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, November 14, 2007–March 9, 2008.
Flow, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, November 10, 2007–Fall 2008.
2006
Fusion, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, November 17–December 22, 2006.
2005
Paradise, Wertz Contemporary, Atlanta, GA
2004
Notes From Paradise, Florence Lynch Gallery, New York, October 18–December 2004.
The Third Eye, Galerie Judin Belot, Zurich, March–April 2004.
Galerie Schuster, Frankfurt
2003
Resistance, Matrix Art Project, Brussels, September–October 2003.
Schmidt Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO.
Transformer, Hospitalhof, Stuttgart, May–June 2003. Curated by Helmut A. Mueller.
2002
Art Statements with Florence Lynch Gallery, Art Basel Miami Beach
New Works, Miami Art Museum, Florida, August 22–October 29, 2002.
Galerie Schustser & Scheuermann, Berlin
Galerie Schuster, Frankfurt
Interlude, Wintergarten, Vienna, March 2002.
2001
Life, Riva Gallery and Florence Lynch Gallery, New York, October–November 2001.
Paintings & Drawings, Florence Lynch Gallery, New York
2000
Transfers/Odyssey, Kunsthalle, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Passport, Jenn Joy Gallery, San Francisco
Hofstra University, Alex Rosenberg Art Gallery, Calkins Hall, NY
1999
Color Theory, Florence Lynch Gallery, New York
The Invisible Empire, Gallery 101, Ottawa-Ontario, Canada, January 23–February 27, 1999. (Catalogue)
1992
The Jaws of Domesticity, der Kiosk, Installation, St. Gallen, Switzerland
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012
Magical Visions, University Museums, University of Delaware, Newark, February 8–June 30, 2012.
2011–2012
Karmic Abstraction, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, November 1, 2011–January 15, 2012. (Catalogue; text by John Yau)
2011
ARS 11, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland, April 15–November 27, 2011. (Catalogue)
Building The Contemporary Collection: Five Years of Acquisitions, Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, March 10–August 14, 2011. Curated by Trevor Schoonmaker.
Geography of Somewhere, Brodie/Stevenson Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 14–May 13, 2011. Curated by David Brodie. (Catalogue)
20 Years Thami Mnyele Foundation, CBK Zuidoost, Amersterdam, March 12–April 29, 2011.
2010–2011
The Global Africa Project, Museum of Art and Design, New York, November 17, 2010–May 15, 2011. Curated by Lowery Sims and Leslie King-Hammond. (Catalogue)
2010
Wild is the Wind, Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), Georgia, January 8–February 28, 2010. Curated by Laurie Ann Farrell.
2009
Wallworks, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
Velan Center for Contemporary Art, Torino, Italy
Poised, Solomon Projects, Atlanta
Strip/Stripe: a Project by Test, Emily Harvey Foundation, New York
Contemporary Art of Africa and the African Diaspora, High Museum of Art, Atlanta
2008
Artcrush, Jenny Jaskey Gallery, Philadelphia
Paper Trail II: Passing Through Clouds, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, MA
Summer 2008/9, Michael Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town
Tapping Currents: Contemporary African Art and Diaspora, The Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
2007
Baroque-Ademia, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY
Summer 2007/8 Michael Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town
Think with the Senses - Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense, at the 52nd Venice Biennale in the Italian Pavilion, curated by Robert Storr
Post Painterly Abstraction, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia
The Color Line, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Exquisite Crisis and Encounters, Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU, New York
2006
-poiesis, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, June 29–July 28, 2006.
Ordering & Seduction, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
The Beautiful Game, Roebling Hall, Brooklyn
Nederland 1, Museum Gouda, The Netherlands
Represent: Selections from the Studio Museum in Harlem, Studio Museum, New York
The Shape of Jazz, Clifford Chance Projects, New York
Big Juicy Paintings and More: Highlights from the Permanent Collection, Miami Art Museum, FL
The Whole World is Rotten, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
Diaspora and the Desert, at the Heard Museum, Phoenix
Synthetic Rhapsody: Florida in Miami, AR Contemporary Art, Milan
Distant Relatives/Relative Distance, Michael Stevenson Contemporary, Cape Town
New Order, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich
Parallel Economies, Wertz Contemporary, Atlanta, February 3–March 4, 2006. (Catalogue; texts by Franklin Sirmans, Gean Moreno and Odili Donald Odita)
Luanda Triennale 2006; The Triennale of Luanda, Angola
Afro-PoMo, High Museum of Art, Atlanta
2003–2006
Fiction of Authenticity: Contemporary Africa Abroad (travelling exhibition), Baffler Gallery, The Art Museum of the University of Houston, Texas, September–November 2006. Previously exhibited at: North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; Regina Gouger Miller Gallery, Purnell Center for the Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, August 20–October 3, 2004; The Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, September 20, 2003–January 3, 2004. Curated by Shannon Fitzgerald and Tumelo Mosaka.
2005
Surface Charge, Virginia Commonwealth University Museum, Richmond, September–December 4, 2005.
Round Leather Worlds, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, October 20, 2005–January 8, 2006. Curated by Dorothea Strauss
Collectors Show and Sale, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Wall Paintings, Virginia Commonwealth University Museum
The Shape of Colour: Excursions in Colour Field Art, 1950–2005, Art Gallery of Ontario
A Warlike People: Victims or Perpetrators, Monorchid Gallery, Phoenix
2003–2005
Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, July–September 2003. Traveled to: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Seattle, April–July 2004; Barbican Art Gallery, London, September 9–October 24, 2004; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, December 18, 2004–March 6, 2005. (Catalogue)
2004
Flipside, Artists Space, New York
Visualizing Diaspora/Construct Self, GASP, Boston
Diaspora, GASP!, Boston
UnStaged, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam
Dak’Art 2004 – Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art, Senegal, May 2004.
Anthology of Art, School of Fine Arts, Braunschweig
Transit: Abstracting the System, City Gallery at Chastain, Atlanta
Home Extension, University Art Museum, Albany, NY
2003
Art Positions with Kevin Bruk Gallery, Art Basel Miami Beach, FL
Yellow Pages, Turm Gallery, Helmstedt, Germany
Specificity, Riva Gallery, New York
After Matisse & Picasso, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York
2002
Collection in Context, The Studio Museum of Harlem, New York
Miami Currents, Miami Art Museum, FL
The Field’s Edge: Africa, Diaspora, Lens, University of South Florida
Painting As Paradox, Artist Space, New York
Peculiarly Pink, LUXE, New York
Irrational Propositions, POST, Los Angeles
Pictures, Greene/Naftali Inc., New York
2001
Against the Wall: Painting Against the Grid, Surface and Frame, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
Here And Now, Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw
Material and Matter, The Studio Museum of Harlem, New York
Chelsea Rising, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans
Pleasures of Sight and States of Being: Radical Abstract Painting, Museum of Fine Arts, FSU
2000
Kjbuh Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany, represented by Florence Lynch Gallery.
Out of America, Galerie Schuster & Scheuermann, Frankfurt & Berlin
Five Continents & One City, 3rd International Salon of Painting, Museum Mexico City
Transcending The Norm And Some, New Jersey City University, Lemmerman Gallery
1999
Zeitwenden: Ausblick Ruckblick, Museum of Modern Art, Bonn, and Museum of Modern Art, Vienna.
4X4, Alexandre de Folin Gallery, New York
IN-VISIBLE: Abstractions & Narratives; Arsenal Gallery, Bialystok, Poland, September 10–October 17, 1999.
Ideoscape; Boston Center for the Arts, MA
Civil Sex; (First Stages Collaboration w/ Brian Freeman), Public Theater, Shiva Gallery, New York
Kunstmarkt, Residenzschloss Dresden, Dresden
Outside Edge: A Survey, Unversite de Paris 1, Pantheon - La Sorbonne, Paris
Vanishing Pt.; Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York
You Are Here, Matrix Art Project (MAP), New York
Paradise 8 (Permanent Resident / Home And The World); Curatorial Project- Exit Art, New York
1998
Crossing Lines; Art-In-General, New York
ART/OMI, International Artist Residency Exhibition; Ghent, NY
1997
2nd Johannesburg Biennial 1997, South Africa
Diversity In Contemporary Africa: Survey Exhibition of Contemporary African Art, The Ohio State University
Really; UnFinished Gallery; Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Interior Life; Rush Arts, New York
Aphrodisia; The Alternative Museum; New York
1996
One; Rush Fine Arts; New York
At the Foreground of Paths; Skoto Gallery, New York
Something I Saw In Brooklyn...; Galerie Elizabeth Valleix, Paris
1995
Modern Life; Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, in conjunction with Newark Museum, NJ
Stitches; Four Walls; November 12, Brooklyn, NY
Gotcha!; Momenta Art, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Celebrity'Hood; Longwood Arts Project, Bronx Council on the Arts, NY
Either/Or; Flamingo East, New York
Other Rooms; Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
Split-Level; Art-In-General, New York
Unfolding Stories; John Jay College of Art, Music & Philosophy, City University of New York
Pseudo Museum; Jupiter Interactive Productions, New York
1994
The Third Forum of Visual Art; Museum of Art Brasilia, Brazil
Fired: a Late Night Comedy Show; No Bias, North Bennington, VT
Fired: a Late Night Comedy Show; Thicket, New York
Go Back and Fetch It (It Means Sankofa); Gallery Annext and Rush Fine Arts, New York
1993
Trespass-Beyond Borders; Right Bank Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
A Grand Tour; Swiss Institute, New York
FIAR International Prize- Art Under 30 (1991–1993), Milan, Rome, Paris, London, Los Angeles, New York; National Academy of Design, NY. New York. (Catalogue)
1992
Without A Notion (A Painting Show); 88 Room, Boston
AWARDS & GRANTS
2007
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant
2004
The Thami Mnyele Foundation Grant for African Artists.
2001
The Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Painting and Sculpture.
2000
Nomination for Best Show of the Year by the International Association of Art Critics in New York.
ArtsLink Collaborative Projects Award in Warsaw, Poland for exhibition, "Here & Now".
1994
Penny McCall Foundation Grant
LECTURES & PANEL DISCUSSIONS
2011
“The Role of Art in Diplomacy,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS & COMMISSIONS
American Council on Education, Washington, D.C.
Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Miami Art Museum, Florida
Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina
New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana
New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
Princeton University, Butler College
Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, Nebraska
Standard Bank Art Collection, Johannesburg
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
Ulrich Museum, Wichita State University, Kansas