“I was obsessed, capturing everything I saw and being fascinated with the incredibly simple task of looking at something and transmitting it onto paper. It’s an immediate magic.” – Toyin Ojih Odutola
Toyin Ojih Odutola was born in Ile Ife, Nigeria, where her parents were teachers. In 1990, her family moved to Berkeley, California. She is of Yoruba and Igbo descent from her paternal and maternal heritage, respectively.
Toyin Odutola received and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art and Communications from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2008 and a Master of Fine Arts degree from California College of the Arts in 2012.
Toyin Odutola produces multimedia drawings that engage in the complexity and shape-ability of identity. This is shown in her unique style of complex mark-making, her lavish compositions rethink the category and traditions of portraiture. She is best known for her highly detailed portrait drawings, entirely or primarily done in black pen ink. Her more recent works have expanded to include charcoal, pastel, and pencil.
Her work was the featured cover story for Juxtapoz Magazine in November 2017, on her museum solo exhibition, To Wander Determined, at Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. In September of 2018, she was nominated as one of the 21 shortlisted artists for the Future Generation Art Prize for 2019.
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Toyin Odutola was invited to create a tribute portrait of the late singer, songwriter, and pianist, Aretha Franklin, for the New York Times Magazine’s annual “The Lives They Lived” issue cover, published on December 30, 2018.
Toyin Odutola was inducted into the National Academicians Class of 2019, of the National Academy of Design. A lifetime honor appointment and tradition dating back to 1825, current members confidentially nominate and elect a new class each year, honoring the artists’ remarkable contributions to the canon and story of American art.
She has also exhibited at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2015); Studio Museum Harlem, New York (2015, 2012); Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield (2013); and Menil Collection, Houston, (2012).
Her permanent collections include Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Baltimore Museum of Art and New Orleans Museum of Art.
Her collections have also been displayed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Princeton University Art Museum, Spencer Museum of Art, Honolulu Museum of Art, and the National Museum of African Art (Smithsonian).
Toyin Odutola became the third highest-paid Nigerian artist of all time in 2019, after her drawing ‘Compound Leaf’ sold at the Sotheby’s for £471,000 which is N228m. This high record sale placed her amongst the top three highest-paid Nigerian artists preceded by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, whose ‘Bush Babes’ sold for £3 million and Ben Enwonwu’s ‘Tutu’ which made £1.2 million.