At the Barbican London until 24 January 2021.
Nigerian-America artist Toyin Ojin Odutola was commissioned by The Barbican to create an exhibition for their gallery The Curve. It’s an awkward space – a long sweeping wall that feels more like a corridor than a room. ‘A Countervailing Theory’ makes the most of it with 40 large-scale monochrome drawings creating a moody, immersive narrative that stretches the entire length. The story tells of a long-forgotten African civilisation dominated by female warriors, The Eshu, who are served by an under-class of male humanoids called The Koba. With its cave-like lighting that re-enforces the connection to the mining industry along emotive soundtrack by composed by sound artist, Peter Adjaye, A Countervailing Theory is a multi-sensory experience that borders on the cinematic.
Top row left to right: 1. Establishing the Plot, 2019 2. Mating Ritual, 2019
Bottom row left to right: 3. This Was How You Were Made, 2019 4. Introductions, Early Embodiment, 2019 5. Rest Stop, 2019 6. Parting Gift, 2019
What’s it all about?
Akanke, the Eshu warrior and her servant, Aldo, the Koba humanoid miner, are at the heart of the narrative. Their relationship begins with a shared belief in the status quo, in the right of ruler over the subject. Equality between them is forbidden by the Eshu code. But as they travel together across Eshu territory, sharing their personal stories, they chip away at the divide between them. Aldo’s evolution from lesser mortal to a partner of equals is especially affecting. Ojin Odutola’ depictions of the ritual in creating a Koba servant are graphically visceral. The story culminates in a violent catalyst that paves the way for a more just society.
Ojin Odutola adds further narrative layers to the story by adopting a role for herself as the anthropologist who has been hired the Ministry of Mineral Development to interpret the meaning of this set of curious images discovered in the course of a mining test in a remote part of Nigeria. The exhibition design echoes the experience of finding cave paintings from lost civilizations. Her final note to us is an invitation to add our own narrative spin to these ‘idiosyncratic motifs and striations’ found on the walls of the mine.
Why you should see this show
The artist is a consummate draftsman with a wonderful command of the human form. The use of pattern and texture, what Ojin Odutola, describes as ‘striations’ embed the characters into the complex coded environments that create them, as if they are trapped within the world they inhabit. At times the graphic style suggests the geometry of Escher pattern paintings as well as the dark narratives of a dystopian graphic novel. Despite the solemn themes at work here, this body of work has an extraordinary beauty. The artworks, many of them large-scale, are hand drawn in charcoal and pastel. Impressively, all 40 have been completed in a single year. In the dark corridor of the Curve, these works glow with inner light that lifts them off the wall. Don’t let this luminous work leave London without booking your appointment to view.
It is on view until 24th January 2021.
Book a free ticket and find out more here:
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2020/event/toyin-ojih-odutola-a-countervailing-theory
https://jackshainman.com/artists/toyin_ojih_odutola
Photography: Kristen Bjaastad
ART FROM LONDON 