Elin Odentia – The Waves

Cecilia Hillström Gallery is pleased to present our first solo exhibition with painter Elin Odentia, The Waves. Odentia's paintings are at first sight characterized by a delicate and subtle expression. Pastel hues and muted colours take geometric forms and shapes on the canvas devoid of brushstrokes and immediate traces of the painterly process. A tension is created through a balance between abstraction and figuration, an intensity which holds both resistance and seduction. It is like the paintings invite the viewer to contemplate and be part of the image space on its own terms.

The gaze is an important aspect in Odentia's work; by drawing the viewer into the painting trough effects of three-dimensionality, the illusion is put to a halt as the perfect sleek surface meets a more see-through structure where the canvas's texture is visible. With precision and skill, Odentia explores these contradictions of representation and tangible materiality in her work, embodying both aspects.  

The Waves consists of a suite of seven oil paintings in portrait format. They all reveal the same type of composition with different variations, marking a shift in state - making them separate but part of the same entity and motion. For Odentia, focus lies on the room and the space the painting offers the viewer. A characteristic aspect of her work is also the dynamics between the paintings and how they interact and relate to each other, activating the space in between the works and the observer. A rhythm is created by the light and shadows moving across the depicted outlines, a serenity similar to that of tides shifting, a continuity where time is visible but yet seems to stand still.

Elin Odentia (b. 1990) holds an MFA from the Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm and a BFA from University College of Arts, Craft & Design, Stockholm. Odentia has exhibited at Uppsala Art Museum, Körbärsgården, Gotland, Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg, Galleri Flach, Stockholm and Galleri 54, Gothenburg. She was awarded the scholarship of Anna-Lisa Thomson Till Minne foundation in 2019 and The Swedish Arts Grants Committee's one-year working grant 2020. She is represented in the collections of Uppsala Art Museum, Public Art Agency Sweden, Region Uppsala, Region Kalmar län and Swedish Association for Art (SAK).