On becoming water and water
Odessa Straub
October 11- December 1, 2025
50 4th St
Troy, NY 12180
Open Hours:
Friday: 12–5
Saturdays: 10-4
Opening:
Friday, October 24th, 2025
5-8 PM
Collar Works is pleased to announce On becoming water and water, a solo exhibition by Odessa Straub. The exhibition includes a range of Straub’s sculptures and paintings from the past several years altered and transformed for this presentation.
On becoming water and water transforms Collar Works’ temporary home at the former Union Bank. Studded by draped fabric walls, the space interchangeably evokes grand, theatrical space and cozy, intimate dwelling. On view is a selection of Straub’s paintings and sculptural works, which make re-use of various textiles, found objects, and discarded items of clothing. For Straub, clothing can become a form of armour in public, a persona to guard oneself. Here,these personas are shed: not necessarily discarded, but reused and reanimated. Items that once served as protection now float and flutter in water-filled vessels, evoking ocean life and newly-emerging ecologies. On becoming water and water reimagines the exhibition– normally a space of stagnacy– as a moving body of water: facilitating growth and transformation.
Odessa Straub (b. 1989 Brooklyn, NY) earned her BFA from The Cooper Union (2013) and is an MFA candidate at Chicago Art Institute (2024). Solo exhibitions include Odessa Straub with Jeffrey Stark, NADA (Miami, FL), Puss Palace Panic Room, Cooper Cole (Toronto, Canada), Migrating Contents, ALAC (Los Angeles, CA), Tennis Elbow, The Journal Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Real Puss Technologies, SEPTEMBER (Hudson, NY), Odessa Straub, NADA, (New York, NY), Tears in Housebreaking Letting the Gold, Acappella (Napoli, Italy), Necrotizing Woos, Jeffrey Stark (New York, NY), Seasonings on Precipice Perception, Mier Gallery (Los Angeles, CA). Two and three-person exhibitions include Jaywalkers: Eddie Martinez, Rafael Delacruz, and Odessa Straub, Loyal Gallery (Stockholm, Switzerland), Viewing Room: Agathe Snow and Odessa Straub, Marlborough Contemporary (Chelsea, NY). Group exhibitions include: Well/Being, University at Albany Art Museum (Albany, NY), Earthly, College of St Rose (Albany, NY), American Women, curated by Marie Maertens, La Patinoire Royale (Brussels, Belgium), Untitled, As It Stands (Los Angeles, CA), Yellow, SEPTEMBER (Hudson, NY), Inflatable Dolls, Women’s History Museum at Springsteen Gallery (Baltimore, MD), Peanuts, Eighteen Gallery (Copenhagen, Denmark), NADA, Cooper Cole (Miami, FL), Simili Stone, organized by Jacques Vidal, LA KAJAE (Brooklyn, NY), night walk, Inman Gallery (Houston, TX), Summerfest, curated by Lauren Taschen, Max Hetzler (Berlin, Germany), Fresh Cuts, Eric Firestone (Hamptons, NY), Blue Jean Baby, SEPTEMBER (Hudson, NY), Perfect Present: Three Generations of Painting, Jeffrey Stark (New York, NY), Present Conditional, Mier, (Los Angeles, CA), That’s The Neighbor, Always Dressing These Boulders In The Yard, The Suzanne Geiss Company (New York, NY). Her zine, published by innen (Zürich, Switzerland, 2019), is carried by Printed Matter. Select recent press includes Artforum Critics' Pick and The Brooklyn Rail Review. She was an artist-in-residence (2019-2021) at Art Cake (Brooklyn, NY). Odessa Straub lives and works in Delhi, NY.