Toyin Odutola
Toyin Odutola
Toyin Ojih Odutolais an artist who was born in Ife, Nigeria. She received a BA in Studio Art and Communications from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2008. She also received her MFA from California College of the Arts in 2012...
NationalityNigerian
ProfessionArtist
CountryNigeria
bit commenting dialogue feeling great people point social themselves
The social media bit is really about documenting process. I like the dialogue if it's constructive, but I'm now at a crossroads. I've accumulated a lot of followers, and it's great, but I'm also at that teetering point where people are feeling themselves a little too much, commenting a little too much.
history indicate people time
When I was in school, I conceptually didn't want black people to have context, to take it out of all that history. I wanted nothing to indicate where they are or what time it is, to place them anywhere.
fit mark race whatever
I don't think about race before I start drawing. I think about how to make that mark to fit whatever purpose I need it to fulfill.
african based
My identity is not based on performance; it's based on something that's pre-determined by someone else, and I don't even understand what that is because I'm an African who came to America.
basically breaking components developed draw face form inside landscape planes time weave
It's kind of a language I've developed over time that's basically breaking up the face into components and planes. Inside each plane, I draw gradation marks, and when planes come together, they form sinews, a hairlike weave that's like a landscape of the face.
memes publishers
I'm really interested in independent publishers and memes and mini comics. But even before that, I was interested in Japanese manga and anime.
artist objectification nervous
For a while, I was nervous about portraying women because of the objectification that automatically comes with it, whether the artist intends or not.
thinking drawing race
I dont think about race before I start drawing. I think about how to make that mark to fit whatever purpose I need it to fulfill.
needed
I needed to create something I could take with me wherever I went.
children two house
I moved around a lot when I was a child; two of the houses I grew up in have totally disappeared. One was burnt in a riot, and the other was pulled down.
wall portraits okay
I kept wanting to push my image as validity; I wanted to see my portrait on a wall and know it was okay.
thinking artist color
I've always felt the portrait is an occasion for marks to happen. I've never viewed the portrait as about the sitter. Even when I go to the National Portrait Gallery, I'm not thinking about the sitter; I'm thinking about how the artist chose that color or that highlight. It becomes about the time, place, and context.
kids style vagabonds
The graphic style itself is influenced by a lot of very layered and detailed comics that I read as a kid, like Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue.
artist people black
Being a black artist, the first thing people want to talk about is your blackness, the importance of your blackness, and your black presence.