Background
Odita was born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1966, but grew up in Columbus, Ohio in the United States.
Odita was born in Enugu, Nigeria in 1966, but grew up in Columbus, Ohio in the United States.
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Ohio State University, 1988. Master of Fine Arts, Bennington College, Vermont, 1990.
He creates vibrant large-scale abstractions that have been described as "showstoppers" and that are considered to raise questions about race and society. In the 1990s Odita was a Critic for Flash Art International, and a Consulting Editor and Writer for NKA, Journal of Contemporary African Artist From 2003 to 2005 he was a Visiting Critic in Painting at Yale University School of Artist
From 2002 to 2003 he was a Visiting Associate Professor in Painting at the University of South Florida, Tampa.
From 2000 to 2006 he was an Associate Professor in Painting at the Florida State University, Tallahassee. From 2006 to the present Odita has been an Associate Professor of Painting in Philadelphia at the Tyler School of Art / Temple University.
Odita is primarily a painter, but also works in photo-based pieces and installation art He sometimes paints directly on walls to alter the perception of space.
"All visual materials are culturally grounded and that it is important to recognize where their meaning is derived from."
Although often related to mainstream abstract artists such as Helen Frankenthaler and Kenneth Noland, Odita intentionally places himself in a tradition of black abstract painters from the 1970s and 1980s.
He has studied and interviewed many of the artists from that period including Howardena Pindell, Alvin Doctorate. Loving, Edward Clark, Frank Bowling, and Stanley Whitney.