Odun Orimolade: 4939

Odun Orimolade is an artist, academic, curator, and cultural practitioner whose practice embraces experimental and trans-disciplinary approaches. Her work addresses concepts of space, overlapping realities, and the intangible, leading to investigations of human behavioral tendencies, orientation, and interaction. With an interest in drawing mediums, Orimolade weaves threads between material culture and sociocultural influences. This exhibition brings together five new series that incorporate drawing, sculpture, installation, collage, mixed media, video, and participatory intervention.

Infinitum (2023) is an installation of black-and-white drawings on paper suspended in three-dimensional space. These drawings depict amorphous geometric shapes oscillating between the scientific and the mythological, alluding to mysterious forces such as black holes, gravitational waves, and quantum entanglements. Infinitum explores the Yoruba worldview of overlapping territories between the tangible and intangible, reflecting Orimolade's fascination with infinite space and time.

Kiniun (2023) is a series of mixed media drawings on board exploring the manifestation of generative form in celestial space. Depicting blurry, constellation-like forms against a darkened plane, Orimolade points to the mystery of the cosmos matrix, where space transcends conventional boundaries, fostering a sense of possibility and renewal.

Musing (2023) is a series of collages, sculptures, and video that explores how human consciousness navigates through a complex interplay of fragments, whispers, and subtle experiences to create meaning. Contrasting with her black and white drawings, these collages insert bright colours, suggesting things seen in passing, indecipherable yet strangely familiar. The collages are complemented by small, colourful concrete sculptures and a video linking transitioning images of organic objects, exploring the ricochet and reappearance of elements shaping consciousness and collective identity.

In Particles of Word (2023), Orimolade creates "drawing collages" incorporating fragments of her drawings superimposed with painted abstract forms an printed imagery, creating a layering technique suggestive of studies in botany or biological cells. The series weaves together fragments into a tapestry resonating on a universal scale of planetary consciousness, emphasizing the interconnectedness of our collective experiences.

The Nines (2023) is an interactive installation referencing the mystique of numerology, featuring black, textural mixed media works incorporating charcoal that extend sculpturally into the viewer's space. These monochrome renderings are suggestive of abstract expressionist tableaus while also alluding to accumulation, deterioration, decay, and rebirth. Focused on the number nine in numerology, Orimolade explores its significance as a gateway to completeness, unity, and quests for enlightenment. She focuses on the number nine as an enigmatic gateway to a world where stories of worlds unfold, signifying the beginning and the culmination of narratives. The installation creates a forest of cognitive experiences through tree-like sculptural installation, reflective wallpaper, audio, and participatory props.

In conceptualising the exhibition, Orimolade explains: “It is probable to think maybe what we learn about the universe through our senses and scientific tools could be a spectacular illusion. It is so sophisticatedly expansive we cannot definitively prove its truth. 4939 explores the matrix of the unseen, familiarity and its impact on our navigation. The generative expanse of infinity and myriad of possibilities can simply be called ‘Wonderful’ in the spread of the nines.”

Odun Orimolade’s presentation is a continuous experimentation in articulating processes of existence, revealing the interconnectedness of our shared experiences. Simultaneously taking the role of a scientist, botanist, astronomer, and mystic in her works, Orimolade seeks the unspoken wisdom revealed in the unknown.


ABOUT ODUN ORIMOLOLADE
Odun Orimolade PhD is an alumnus of the Yaba College of Technology and the University of South Africa. She lectures in the Fine Art Department at Yaba College of Technology. With a rich history of service and leadership, she has served as coordinator for the UNESCO/UNEVOC Center for Research and Sustainable Development, Sub-Dean of the School of Art, Design, and Printing, and curator of the Yusuf Grillo Gallery. She currently serves as the Curatorial Director of the Yaba Art Museum. Orimolade is also a Research Fellow of the College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa, she is strongly committed to collaborations for creative development.

Orimolade is a member of several professional bodies and has presented at several exhibition spaces such as Museum of Contemporary Art, Salvador-Bahia, Brazil; WORM Institute, Rotterdam, Netherlands; MOCADA Museum, New York, US; Nubuke Foundation Accra, Ghana; Lilith Performance Studio, Sweden; NIROX Foundation, South Africa; Bern Performance Festival, Switzerland; Jægersborg Dyrehave Forest Park Nature Reserve, Denmark; Overgaden, Institute of Contemporary Art, Denmark; NLH Space, Denmark; Korong Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa; Goethe Institute Salvador-Bahia, Brasil; and Out of Site, Chicago, USA. She has also participated in several artist residencies, recently at the Vila Sul Goethe Institute Salvador Bahia, Brazil in with support of the KFW Stiftung Foundation, Germany. Her diverse experiences and contributions underscore her commitment to the discourse of contemporary art practice and cultural development.