Shadowland

David Kordansky Gallery is pleased to present Shadowland, an exhibition of paintings, photo collages, and a mural by Odili Donald Odita as well as two works from the 1970s by the artist's father, Dr. Okechukwu Emmanuel Odita (b. 1936, d. 2025). Shadowland considers three distinct bodies of work—current, past, and inherited—as integral parts of a creative whole, one that not only reveals the evolution of Odita's formal interests, but also connects his practice as a Nigerian American artist to familial and geopolitical legacies. This expanded presentation makes clear the artist's longstanding engagement with some of our most insoluble contemporary questions regarding power: how it manifests, how we perceive it, and how it can be confronted, reclaimed, or created from nothing. At the same time, Odita looks to painting itself as a site of infinite potential, one that fosters possibilities for connection and coexistence across borders, generations, and experiences. Framing this exhibition is the notion of the shadowland, evoking a time and place thrown into darkness.