Toyin Ojih Odutola facts for kids

Toyin Ojih Odutola (born in 1985) is a talented Nigerian-American artist. She is famous for her detailed drawings and art on paper. Her unique style uses many layers and marks to create amazing pictures. She often explores ideas like fairness, history, and different ways people see themselves. Her art also looks at what it means to be Black and how people feel when they move to new places.

Lonely Chambers (T.O.), 2011. This drawing uses pen, ink, and marker.

Early Life and School

Toyin Ojih Odutola was born in 1985 in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Both of her parents were teachers. In 1990, her mother took Toyin and her younger brother to the United States. They joined their father in Berkeley, California. He was doing research and teaching chemistry at a university there.

After four years, her family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1994. Her father became a professor at Alabama A&M University. Her mother became a nurse. Toyin's family background includes both the Yoruba and Igbo cultures in Nigeria.

Learning to Be an Artist

In 2007, while in college, she attended a special art program at Yale University. In 2008, she earned a degree in Studio Art and Communications. This was from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Later, in 2012, she got her Master of Fine Arts degree. She studied at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

Her Art Career

While still studying, Toyin had her first solo art show. It was in New York in 2011. The show was called "(MAPS)." It featured drawings of single Black figures. These figures were drawn with many layers of ballpoint pen. The idea was to show skin as a kind of map. This show helped her become known as a new voice in art.

In 2012, Forbes magazine featured her. She was on their list of "30 notable individuals under 30" in art.

Storytelling Through Art

In 2015, her art changed. She started adding stories and text to her work. This happened in her show "Untold Stories." It was at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.

In 2016, she had another show called "A Matter of Fact." This was at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. Here, she showed a new style of art she had developed.

Her work was featured on the cover of Juxtapoz Magazine in 2017. This was for her show "To Wander Determined." This show was at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. It showed colorful figures from a made-up story. The story was about two rich Nigerian families joining together. Toyin presented these pictures as if they were private family portraits. She wanted people to think about what is real and what is made up in art.

Important Recognition

From 2017 to 2018, she was a special artist-in-residence. This was at Barnard College in New York.

In 2018, she took part in a big international art event. It was called Manifesta and was held in Italy. Her solo show there was named "Scenes of Exchange."

She was also chosen as one of 21 artists for a special art prize in 2019. Her work was shown in Ukraine and then at the Venice Biennale. The Venice Biennale is a very important art exhibition.

In 2019, Toyin joined the National Academicians Class. This is a big honor for artists in America. It means she has made great contributions to American art.

Recent Work

In August 2020, her first solo museum show in the United Kingdom opened. It was at The Curve gallery at Barbican Centre in London. The show was called "A Countervailing Theory." For this show, Toyin created 40 drawings. They told an old story set in Nigeria. She was inspired by ancient rock formations. She also thought about how some people wrongly believed Nigerians couldn't create beautiful art. Her black and white drawings aimed to "flip the script" on these ideas. The famous writer Zadie Smith even wrote an essay about the show.

Art Style and Inspiration

Toyin Ojih Odutola is known for her very detailed drawings. She often uses black pen ink. More recently, she has also used charcoal, pastel, and pencil. Even though her art looks like portraits, she doesn't see herself as a portrait artist. The people in her drawings are often inspired by many different individuals.

Who Inspired Her

She gives credit to her high school art teacher, Dana Bathurst. This teacher introduced her to African-American portrait artists. These included Jacob Lawrence and Elizabeth Catlett. Toyin also gets ideas from comic books, Japanese manga, and anime. When she was in graduate school, she was inspired by artists like Kerry James Marshall.

Toyin's art often challenges old ideas about identity and society. She uses her art to show stories about race, identity, and social class. She does this through the materials she uses. She also uses textures in her figures and landscapes. For Toyin, texture is a way to communicate with people. The different marks she makes are like a special language or accent.

Art Shows

Here are some of her solo art shows:

• 2008: A Colonized Mind, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Alabama.
• 2011: (MAPS), Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. This was her first solo show in New York City.
• 2013: My Country Has No Name, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. This show explored ideas about identity.
• 2013—2014: The Constant Wrestler, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indiana.
• 2014: Like the Sea, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. The title was inspired by a book by Zora Neale Hurston.
• 2015: Untold Stories, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Missouri.
• 2015—2016: Of Context and Without, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
• 2016—2017: A Matter of Fact, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, California.
• 2017—2018: To Wander Determined, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
• 2018: Testing the Name, Savannah College of Art and Design's Museum of Art, Georgia.
• 2018: Scenes of Exchange, at the Orto Botanico di Palermo for the 12th Manifesta Biennial in Italy.
• 2018: The Firmament, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire.
• 2018: When Legends Die, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
• 2020: A Countervailing Theory, Barbican Centre, London, England. This was her first solo museum show in the UK.
• 2020: Tell Me A Story, I Don't Care If It's True, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. These works were made during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Toyin Ojih Odutola has also been part of many group art shows. These include:

• Future Generation Art Prize @ Venice 2019, at the 58th Venice Biennale (2019).
• Show Me as I Want to Be Seen, at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco (2019).
• For Opacity: Elijah Burgher, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Nathaniel Mary Quinn, at The Drawing Center, New York (2018).
• Histórias Afro-Atlânticas (Afro-Atlantic Stories), at São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil (2018).
• Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, at Brooklyn Museum, New York (2016).
• FORE and Black: Color, Material, Concept, at Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2015, 2012).
• Ballpoint Pen Drawing Since 1950, at Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield (2013).
• The Progress of Love, at the Menil Collection, Houston (2012).
• Afro: Black Identity in America and Brazil, Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque (2012).

Where Her Art Is Kept

Toyin Ojih Odutola's art is owned by many public art collections. Some of these include:

• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
• Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
• Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey
• Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois

Awards and Honors

Toyin Ojih Odutola has received many awards for her art:

• 2007: Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship Grant, Yale University.
• 2008: Erzulie Veasey Johnson Painting & Drawing Award, University of Alabama in Huntsville.
• 2011: Murphy and Cadogan Fellowship Award, The San Francisco Foundation.
• 2017: Lida A. Orzeck Distinguished Artist-in-Residence, Barnard College.
• 2018: Rees Visionary Award, Amref Health Africa.
• 2019: Shortlisted for the Victor Pinchuk Foundation's Future Generation Art Prize.
• 2020: Lauréate of the Prix Jean-François Prat, The Bredin Prat Foundation for Contemporary Art.
• 2022: Great Immigrants Award, Carnegie Corporation of New York.