Brandon Odums or Bmike, the New Orleans artist who made a huge splash with the ambitious but popular Exhibit BE on the Westbank is back.
He now has the chance to show his work in a way few artists can with the opening this weekend of Studio BE, another massive canvas for his work.
Odums says, “Studio BE is a 30,000 square foot warehouse in the Bywater, and we’re in the process of temporarily transforming it into an art space. I’m doing my first solo show here as an artist. We’re gonna occupy this space with as much art, really activate it and do some programs, do some lectures, workshops, whatever we can do in this space while it’s here”
Odums told us that a lot of his work is inspired by the greatest narratives of his heritage, and the biggest champion of that was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
“The space is Studio BE but the name of my show is Ephemeral Eternal. What that means is ephemeral means temporary and eternal means forever, the legacy of Dr. King exemplifies that so much. We celebrate his legacy every year, and that’s something that’s eternal, yet his life was ephemeral, his life was temporary. He didn’t live forever, but yet he is living forever”
It’s been a great year for Odums as Exhibit BE closed out with a bang and performances from superstars. He then teamed with Amnesty International for a collaborative exhibit caller Art for Amnesty. More recently, he spent time with Katie Courig for an in dept piece for Yahoo.com, but for him this creation is out of necessity.
“I’m inspired to create art for the reasons of art as a survival tool. It’s the same reason why native people wove baskets. It wasn’t because they were trying to make pretty baskets, they wove it because it was necessary. They needed it, it was a tool. it had a function. To me art has a function, and that function for me currently is to educate and to inspire. I’m hoping that this space can inspire and can educate young folks,” says Odums.
Studio BE is located in the 2900 block of Royal St. and you can get tickets for the exhibit at www.EventBrite.com