Shadowland

Shadowland presents a multi-layered body of work by Odili Donald Odita that considers the relationship between abstraction, history, and identity. The exhibition brings together three interconnected strands of the artist’s practice—current paintings, earlier photo-based works, and inherited artistic influences—forming a cohesive exploration of how visual language can reflect and challenge structures of power. Odita’s vibrant, geometric abstractions are characterized by interlocking planes of color that resist fixed hierarchies, encouraging movement across the surface. These compositions create dynamic visual fields where light, shadow, and color interact, suggesting both tension and harmony. The concept of the “shadowland” evokes spaces shaped by both oppression and possibility—sites where darkness can signify both concealment and resistance. The exhibition also includes works from Odita’s Black Album series, which draws from found images and mass media to examine the construction of racial identity and the persistence of stereotypes. Through digital manipulation and recontextualization, these works reveal underlying narratives embedded in everyday imagery, highlighting how visual culture participates in shaping perceptions of race and identity. A significant aspect of Shadowland is the inclusion of works by Odita’s father, Dr. Okechukwu Emmanuel Odita, a Nigerian artist, scholar, and member of the Zaria Rebels. His paintings provide historical context for Odita’s practice, linking contemporary abstraction to earlier movements that challenged Eurocentric frameworks and asserted the importance of African artistic traditions. This intergenerational dialogue underscores the role of art as both personal inheritance and political expression. Presented by David Kordansky Gallery, Shadowland positions abstraction as an expansive and evolving language—one that can carry memory, critique, and possibility across time and place. The exhibition runs through February 28, 2026, in New York.