Mirror

MIRROR - a reflective surface that casts back a clear image.

‍

In life, the only face that you will never actually see is your own. This is the beginning of an inter-relationship between figuration and abstraction. It is also a space of discourse between the notions of objectification and the imagination.

‍

Consider the process of making a self-portrait – a representation of oneself as a painting. This is the plateau of inherent disconnect. The examination of oneself as a representation is an exceedingly conceptual process. The self-portrait is in itself abstract, as it objectifies the separation of self and image at its start.

‍

One cannot ignore the rise of black figuration as a trend in painting today. This genre asks a great question of how, and in what ways possible, can one represent the eternal qualities of black skin through paint. Willem de Kooning once said, “Flesh is the reason oil paint was invented.” An expansive exploration of black identity in paint has allowed for an emancipation from and beyond the historical exclusivity of a type that de Kooning’s statement implies.

‍

But what happens when the civil-self becomes anti-social? When discourse is meant to undermine social-cohesiveness? When the hand that attacks the body is only doing so to establish a new normal?

‍

Activism is at the heart of this exhibition, where agency exists in the constructive use of creativity, however imagined, to make the change needed to move one towards better and greater horizons.

‍

Mirror is an exhibition about self-reflection. With an understanding of the difficulties that this task may entail, I am asking that we begin to look into ourselves and reflect upon the consequences of thoughts and actions that shape identity in the age of Trump.

‍

-Odili Donald Odita, March 2020

‍