Popular NYC Gallery ODETTA Grows Smaller to Feature Monumental Sculpture

ODETTA, in response to the current paradigm, is excited to introduce a new exhibition space, ODETTA Petite. Based on the gallery's original Bushwick space, Ellen Hackl Fagan and Seth Callander have created a scaled-down venue to allow its artists to return to gallery exhibitions. The new space is 10"h X 24"l x !2"w. With a touch of humor, Fagan's channeling a combination of Le Corbusier and Wes Anderson, ala Alice in Wonderland.

As we navigate the uncertainties of the pandemic, we can't help wondering what, if anything, will be normal again. What will be returned and what has been permanently lost? How can we maintain what we love and what does that look like now? These are the questions central to this, our present. This is a moment when the whole world is at sea.

Seth Callander's installation "The Waters We Swim" is a direct response to the feelings of chaos, exacerbated by the lack of clear information, that our entire global society is engulfed in. We've all experienced frustration, loss, and confusion, as the months continue to roll on.

Callander's abstract sculpture fills the Lilliputian gallery floor with a series of three constructions that, at scale, would be about 7 feet tall, 24 feet wide by 30 feet deep.

A visitor to a room the size of the original ODETTA would be surrounded by waves of blue stained massive work, constructed in aluminum. In its diminutive presentation, his piece is as much a stand-alone site-specific installation as it is a proposal for monumental landscape sculpture.

In the rear of the gallery is a wire maquette titled "After the Wreck". It is part of series Callander calls "My Fathers' Work", which are reflections of the work of artists from all disciplines that have been his primary influences. This piece combines the work of sculptor John Chamberlain with Adrienne Rich, who wrote the moving collection of poetry, "Diving into the Wreck". The piece will be realized in wood, and about 7 feet tall.

When ODETTA opened in Bushwick in 2014, one goal Director Ellen Hackl Fagan realized for the gallery was an annual summer solo exhibition of a single monumental sculpture to be built on site. Seth Callander's solo exhibit is a continuation of that original intent.

Seth Callander began his art career in New York City in the East Village just as that historic scene was taking off. He studied architecture at the University of Oregon. Working as a sculptor and a furniture designer and craftsman, his work has been exhibited on both coasts. Concerned about the well being of humanity, and the lack of clarity of information, causing an inability to plan for the future. He feels that even though we are isolated within our homes, all alone, we are all together during this time of confusion.

"The Waters We Swim" will be on view, on line, and in person by appointment, through October 18th, 2020.

Fagan's plan for ODETTA Petite is that it will function as a true model for the gallery, offering proposals for large-scaled sculptures that will begin as online features for designers and architects to access for their private and corporate clients on commission.

As the pandemic altered the ways that galleries could bring artists' works to exhibition, ODETTA has rolled with these challenges, responding with ODETTA Digital on Artsy, as a part of the SHIM Art Network, and now with ODETTA Petite. Fagan's passion for experimentation and innovation is driving her to find new ways to inspire artists and collectors to stay engaged with new projects and new platforms.

ODETTA exhibits works by mid-career artists who have honed their craft and their vision. Special interest is given to contemporary painting, large-scale sculpture, glyphs, music, Color Field, Buddha Mind, Minimalism, playfulness and encyclopedic obsessiveness.

Founded in 2014 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, ODETTA has risen to prominence among New York City's artist-run galleries, organizing fine art exhibitions and curated, interdisciplinary events that include an expansive roster of visual artists, composers of experimental music, dancers, and poets.

ODETTA's exhibitions have been reviewed in The New Criterion, Artillery Magazine, Brooklyn Magazine, Hyperallergic, The Journal of Mathematics and the Arts, and Two Coats of Paint, in addition to numerous other online publications. ODETTA's artists' works have been placed in public and private collections, both in NYC and internationally. Several monumentally-scaled installations have traveled beyond the gallery walls into museums and notable art centers in the metropolitan region.