ABE ODEDINA The Girl Next Door, 2023, Acrylic on plywood 122 x 164.5 cm
This September, Ed Cross Gallery presents I’m a Believer, a solo show of new work by Abe Odedina. Abe Odedina’s new solo show crystallizes something that has infused his practice since its earliest days. Via his irrepressible interest in stories and the way they help us make sense of the world, Odedina unites societal myths and daily minutiae under one thesis: fact and fiction aren’t as different as we might think, and all it takes to transform one into the other is belief.
As a statement, the show’s title operates a double bind – after all, declaring belief in something acknowledges its arbitrary limits; it allows for the possibility of disbelieving, framing belief as a choice rather than something inevitable. It’s a worldview that offers enormous maneuverability, positioning grand narratives and hearsay alike in one arena, to subscribe to or discard as the case may be. Most importantly of all, it figures Odedina in a rich context – the artist as a creator of stories, not just an absorber of them.
Drawing on religious traditions and pop culture – like The Monkees’ 1966 song that shares the show’s name – I’m a Believer locates the spark that powers existing narratives while foregrounding the role of belief in contemporary art as a whole. Stepping into a gallery or a temple involves the impression that the objects inside will convey something transcendent, and change us in some way; having located that symbolic overlap, Odedina revels in it.
The show runs from September 21st to November 11th, 2023 at Ed Cross, 19 Garrett Street, London, EC1Y 0TY. For further information, please visit the Ed Cross website.
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