Toyin Odutola Quotes
I kept wanting to push my image as validity; I wanted to see my portrait on a wall and know it was okay.
For a while, I was nervous about portraying women because of the objectification that automatically comes with it, whether the artist intends or not.
Being a black artist, the first thing people want to talk about is your blackness, the importance of your blackness and your black presence.
I dont think about race before I start drawing. I think about how to make that mark to fit whatever purpose I need it to fulfill.
The graphic style itself is influenced by a lot of very layered and detailed comics that I read as a kid, like Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue.
I moved around a lot when I was a child; two of the houses I grew up in have totally disappeared. One was burnt in a riot, and the other was pulled down.
It is hard to produce work in New York. You kind of have to center yourself - do some Zen meditation exercises and just focus. It is very distracting, and money, of course, is an issue.
