THE ODDS BRINGS TOGETHER THE WORK OF VICTOR GRAU AND AKIN DURODOLA, TWO ARTISTS WHO MET AT DE GALLERY AND DISCOVERED AN UNEXPECTED SHARED HISTORY. DESPITE COMING FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS, THEIR WORK REVEALED A COMMON CONNECTION TO AMERICAN CULTURE, ITS IMAGERY, MYTHOLOGIES AND THE STORIES WE CHOOSE TO TELL THROUGH THEM.

GRAU’S RAW CANVASES TRANSLATE THE NOSTALGIC ENERGY OF AMERICAN MUSIC AND SPORTS INTO COLOUR, RHYTHM AND GESTURE. HIS OIL-STICK WORKS EMBRACE ACCIDENT, IMPERFECTION AND MOVEMENT, CREATING IMAGES THAT FEEL BOTH IMMEDIATE AND EVOCATIVE.

DURODOLA LOOKS TO THE AMERICAN WEST, REIMAGINING ITS COWBOY FIGURE THROUGH A BLACK PERSPECTIVE. FASHION, POSTURE AND VIBRANT COLOUR BECOME TOOLS FOR EXPRESSING CONFIDENCE, DIGNITY AND INDIVIDUALITY, WHILE REFERENCES TO HIS NIGERIAN HERITAGE BRING ANOTHER CULTURAL LAYER TO HIS DISTINCTIVE WORLD.

WHAT BEGAN AS A MEETING AT DE GALLERY BECAME A CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO PRACTICES, TWO PERSONAL HISTORIES AND TWO WAYS OF SEEING THE SAME CULTURAL LANDSCAPE. THE ODDS BRINGS THESE CONNECTIONS TO LIFE IN A DUO EXHIBITION, WHERE NOSTALGIA, IDENTITY AND AMERICAN IMAGERY COLLIDE, OVERLAP AND FIND NEW MEANING.