Solo show
Odili Donald Odita: Songs from Life
8 Apr 2025 — 27 Apr 2027 at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
· New York
In Odili Donald Odita's new large-scale commission in MoMA's lobby, bright colors and abstract patterns create a cascading kaleidoscope. For the first time in the artist's unfolding process, music serves as the primary source of inspiration. "Music inspires me to think through problems in my paintings," Odita has said.
Songs from Life was painted over the course of six weeks, with visitors able to see the site-specific work emerging across the walls and columns. Executed with flat acrylic latex paint, the floor-to-ceiling installation provides an immersive experience, with Odita describing its colors as expressions of freedom and change.
Each painted section is anchored by a selection of songs that expand on the artist's conception of MoMA's lobby as a gathering space for people from different walks of life. "There's a sort of energy that is communal because of the way music can affect the body," Odita has said. "That's how I want to make my paintings work, too."
Songs from Life was painted over the course of six weeks, with visitors able to see the site-specific work emerging across the walls and columns. Executed with flat acrylic latex paint, the floor-to-ceiling installation provides an immersive experience, with Odita describing its colors as expressions of freedom and change.
Each painted section is anchored by a selection of songs that expand on the artist's conception of MoMA's lobby as a gathering space for people from different walks of life. "There's a sort of energy that is communal because of the way music can affect the body," Odita has said. "That's how I want to make my paintings work, too."
About the artist
Odili Donald Odita
1966 · Postmodernism
Odili Donald Odita is a Nigerian American abstract painter who lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His work explores color both in the figurative historical context and in the sociopolitical sense. His vibrant large-scale abstractions have been described as "showstoppers" and are…
About the artist →About the venue
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
· New York
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of architecture and design, drawing, painting, sculpture…
