By Ifeoluwa Olutayo.
ØDIN (picture taken by Vitalis Nwn)
ØDIN is a visual designer, digital painter and content director from Lagos, Nigeria. He’s made art for books, musical artistes, art connoisseurs and everyday romantics. He is a member of The Th3rd Place (T3P), a “human community” which aims to bring the masses closer towards art and creativity.
At T3P, he works as a designer, event co-host and exhibition curator. He’s also a member of 1717 Utopia, a community of talented creatives of varying eccentricities.
He currently works as a visual designer, creating visual content for multiple brands and businesses spanning the globe. Some creatives he’s worked with are Asuquomo, Bube, Nakeltbg, Vitalis Nwn, Wave$tar, and many others.
I sat down with ingenious artist, ØDIN, to discuss his work, inspirations and future considerations.
Q: Can you speak a bit about the spaces that drive you to create?
A: I don’t necessarily have specific environments or circumstances that motivate me to make art. I could be doing the most mundane things and be inspired. I could be in my room, in class, at a party, with friends; anywhere really, doing anything.
The art comes out when it wants to, I’m merely another unique vessel.
Q: What are your artistic inspirations, the places that inform what we see when we get an ØDIN painting?
I’m inspired by the way things make me feel. I’ve always felt things more deeply than most people around me. And more often than not, my feelings are so strong that I almost embody them. In times like these, art is the answer.
Movies posters, song lyrics, philosophies, psychological concepts, states of mind, emotions, struggle, other people, doom-scrolling on Twitter, these are some of the things that inspire me. I read a lot of comic books as a teenager, and if you look closely enough at my work, you can also see that.
I’m also heavily inspired by things that are uneasy to digest or categorically explain. The works of authors like H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King, Salvador Dali, Japanese manga artist Kentaro Miura, Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński; Mike Mignola and Guillermo del Toro are some key informants of my art.
I am obsessed with the abilities of all the above to weave complex themes and great unfathomable mysteries that are both beautiful and terrifying into mundane media such as cinema, paper and canvas. I choose to tell my stories that way too because life itself is one great big, primordial mystery.
Q: What does the digital medium offer you that others don’t really do for you?
A: My choice of media started from my sheer admiration of digital art. I’ve always been a nerd and when I first started making digital art, my main reason was so I could draw some of my favourite film and comic book characters like all the cool artists I saw on DeviantArt and Instagram.
Now, my choice of media is a blend of convenience and necessity. I like that I can just grab my phone or laptop whenever the need to make art arises (which is a lot). Also, making traditional art in Nigeria is very expensive right now.
Furthermore, I certainly don’t believe in the superiority of any medium over others, so long as you’re the one making the art; therefore I am very intentional about making the digital medium my primary means of expression as I feel that it doesn’t get enough credit. Most people only see digital art as ‘commercial’ but I believe I can tell incredible stories with it.
Although, I don’t plan on staying in the same place for too long. I will continue to expand my artistic capabilities and tell even larger, more complex stories as time goes on. But for now, I shall continue to irritate the purists and close-minded gatekeepers.
Q: In this navigation of emotional expression, do you find it at times very emotionally tasking? Would you, at some point want to create from a place that is informed by the personal, but not burdening personal?
A: To be honest, I think what I find emotionally tasking is having to go through life ‘without’ painting. I don’t feel burdened at all, so long as I have an outlet for creative expression.
Though, I’ll say that I want to create more art for art’s sake as time goes on, and I’m already very much on that path. Not everything has to have a deeper meaning. Sometimes, you just want to make stuff that looks cool.
Q: Are there any other mediums you’d like to explore as time goes on? To bring this emotionality to physicality in other forms?
A: For sure! I’ve always wanted to do everything since I was a child, and I will. The painter is just one side of me: I’m also a model, writer, poet, budding photographer and director.
I’ve always wanted to make comic books and animations, and I already have stories to tell in that regard. I also want to express myself through fashion, cinema and music. I’m currently working on my clothing brand which will be a delicious convergence of fashion and art.
As time goes on, I will be expanding my skillset to match my desires. I’ve done this before and I can do it again. The sky is only the beginning for me.
Q: What does the process look like for you? How does a painting move from idea to finished product?
A: My process has been different each time I’ve created a piece. I don’t do well with routine, and I get bored fast so I subconsciously practice variation every time. When I first started, I would just create an empty canvas and paint what felt right. This was always so cool to do until my ideas started taking more defined forms.
Some days, my ideas start as dreams or nightmares which I have to decode and translate to a visual medium. Other days, the title is the first thing that comes to me. I know it before I even have an idea of what the piece will look like, so I have to build a world around this word or phrase that I have in my head. It can be quite challenging, but I love it.
The first thing I do before I lift my graphic pen – or even turn on my laptop – is put on some music. I map out the entire piece in my head beforehand, draw out obscure forms and move them around before giving them shapes and forms that match the mind image. Next comes the painting, the part I enjoy most (it’s my best version of therapy). Most times, even after the idea has been perfectly executed, I like to add in little details just because. The titles of my paintings usually come to me before or during the process, rarely after.
I know a lot of people will come for me, but I don’t make preliminary sketches. I haven’t had any reason to, because no work has been challenging enough for me to require a sketch beforehand. Most times, it’s just an idea from my head straight to the canvas. Someday though, I hope to create something complex enough that I need to sketch first before executing.
Q: I love your work so much. It evokes an almost hallucinatory feel, with some forms lacking corporeality, meeting and weaving, almost shaping but never really doing so (a commune of sorts) and others formed in full sometimes leading eyes towards the commune, all in red, purple, and blue, or green. Can you share why you choose to express your personal, interior world in this style?
A: Thank you for that astute viewpoint. I’m very intentional about spreading my emotional and psychological state (big shoutout to Ari Aster), and I believe that’s what you see in my texture and colour use.
I imagine my subjects and environments, not as ‘whole’ things, but as little amoebic threads that assume shape and form as they intertwine. And by extension, these forms interact with their surroundings and come out as everything you see when you look at my paintings.
My use of colour is purposefully deceptive. I only paint people of color but I like to give them the most unusual hues. It’s my attempt at capturing moods, souls, and even destinies. I don’t like to make things too obvious either. For example, I’ve used the colour red – which usually stands for rage and love – to capture emotions like hubris, greed and determination.
Q: Lmao, I’m actually a very big fan of Ari’s work (Beau is Afraid blew me away). I think it’s a very intriguing outlet for familial frustrations bordering on the paranoid-schizo-manic. Have you ever or do you think you’d ever use the work to tackle similar frustrations if they ever existed?
A: This is funny of you to ask because it’s almost all I do! Lol.
I’ve always been a narcissist with an incessant need to be understood; I want people to think what I think and feel how I feel at any given point in time. And painting is as far as I get in achieving that for now.
Q: What does the future of digital art in Nigeria look like for you?
A: The future of digital art to me is a seamless convergence of the aforementioned with other forms of creative expression. I want to see digital art that’s not only interactive but functional. I want it to permeate the screen and affect people inexplicably.
Q: What’s the most unusual place you’ve gotten inspiration from for a painting? Since it’s usually an internal drive, maybe a reference?
A: I am inspired by emotions but not driven by them. My ‘drive’ is something much bigger than I am which I am unable to explain.
That being said, my most unusual inspiration has to be my sexuality. I once created a painting called Visual Viagra in an attempt to capture the spirit of sexual energy, and it was inspired by a picture I took of my naked body.
Q: What are some of the challenges you’ve had to contend with working here?
A: Art isn’t taken very seriously in Nigeria. Many Nigerians are very superstitious, so the art I make – which can be quite jarring – tends to scare and/or confuse people. That has made me question how I express myself sometimes, but I try to see the reception of my art as part of its point.
Q: You recently collaborated with the artiste,bube. How was that experience, working in music, and is it something you are going to keep exploring?
A: Bube is such a brilliant mind. I first came across his work on OTE! by Odunsi the Engine. After I listened to his GNAW EP, I was completely blown away and knew that he and I had to work.
I am very attracted to eccentricity and genius, and that’s why I can be a bit selective about who I choose to work with. However, I am also very open to collabs as long as you’re good at what you do.
Currently, I’m working on a passion project of mine which involves documenting the underground/independent/alternative music scene in Nigeria through my art. This year alone, I’ve had the pleasure of working with artists like Wave$tar, Nakeltbg, Asuquomo (a Canada-based Nigerian artiste), and of course, bube; with many more on the way.
Working in music is something I’ve been doing for a while. I’ve designed covers and promotional material for songs and albums alike, and I won’t stop anytime soon because there are a lot of amazing people that I still want to work with.
Q: On the back of that, bringing it back to art, how do collaborations with other artists look to you? Is it something you’d like to explore, given your process of creation?
A: Of course. Although, I will admit that I haven’t done a lot of collabs with other artists. My last non-commercial collaborative piece was last November, with ‘T051N’. He’s a great digital artist with a very unique style and I really liked what we created.
Currently, I have so many pending collabs with other artists because so much has been going on. I’ve been working a lot, and my visual style has been evolving a lot faster than I can process.
I’ve also been very caught up with my final school year which has been annoyingly distracting, so I decided to just focus on personal stuff first and have some solid footing before doing any more collabs. Thankfully, things are starting to slow down, so expect more collaborations moving forward.
Q: What are some misconceptions about digital art that you feel are affecting how it’s perceived here in Nigeria?
A: There are so many. But my least favourite misconception is that digital art is nothing but ‘commercial’. It annoys me that so many people think digital art can’t actually be in a gallery or museum when it has already changed the world so much. This is reflected especially in the way digital art is executed at exhibitions.
I remember attending the +234 Art Fair earlier this year. It was such a beautiful experience, I will not lie. My senses were bombarded with a mix of different artistic media and aesthetics. I remember thinking ‘This is such a masterfully executed art exhibition’, that was until I visited the digital arts section. All the digital art – from 20+ artists, mind you – was limited to a slideshow on one single screen.
I commend their efforts for at least including digital art in their lineup but then again the fact that digital artists have to take what they get, no matter how little, is a big part of the issue. It hurts to spend so much time mastering your tools, harnessing different skills and executing ideas, only to be treated like an afterthought.
At some point, we have to question whether this unfair treatment of digital artists is borne from a necessary preservation of ‘The Arts’ or merely obstinate gatekeeping. Because I believe that digital art can be so much more than what it currently is in Nigeria.
Q: Digital art, to some, is an opportunity to breathe new life into work rendered in other mediums, recreating masterpieces in this form. Do you think there are any works – cinematic, fashion-tinged or other modes of expression – that you’d like to reinterpret in your style?
A: Oh, they’re so many. I am a huge fan of Kentaro Miura’s Berserk manga series, and would especially love to interpret some of his works in my style. I’ve also wanted to properly adapt Mike Mignola’s Hellboy to an Ødin painting (Hellboy is one of my favourite comic book characters).
In fact, I’d also like to create more works inspired by songs and clothing. Recently, I exhibited a piece called ‘Kala Boyz’ at a comic book convention. It was inspired by a combination of The Boys and the soles of my Doc Marten’s boots.
To expand on that, I am quite curious to see what I could do with characters from books. I want to make more paintings based on written descriptions rather than visual references. I’d love to paint characters like Cthulhu from Lovecraft’s short stories, The Gunslinger from Stephen King’s The Dark Tower book series, and Fremen from the Dune books in my own style. I’m a big nerd, so the list of works I’d like to adapt is practically endless.
Q: What does the future for ØDIN-inspired expression look like, if you’d like to share of course?
A: Fashion, music, cinema, abstract, functional art, etc. I have no limits. I’m already planting my Easter eggs. But as for the execution, I guess you’ll just have to see.
Q: By way of an outro I’m going to ask two questions, what’s the holy grail of paintings for you, and what is one album listening experience that felt like a sonic chronicling of your work?
A: I can’t choose just one, but I’ll make a very biased decision and say one of Beksiński’s untitled paintings from the 1970’s. They are absolutely glorious!
For an album, honestly I believe the answer to this question depends on whatever I’m listening to at the time as my painting is somewhat influenced by my music. But right now, I’ll probably say Relatives In Descent By Protomartyr, it feels a lot like the painting I’m currently working on. However, their entire catalogue has inspired me in one way or another.
