As the art world grapples with how artificial intelligence (AI) will affect their future livelihoods, I’m reassured that there are a few human fundamentals that technology can never replace: the impulse to create and the desire to share with others.
I have always loved events where there are opportunities to engage directly with artists in front of their work, like at this weekend’s The Artist Project, which runs from April 11 to 14 at the Better Living Centre building in Exhibition Place. More than 200 independent artists will be on site, from seasoned fair vets to those showing for the first time in a large public venue.
It can be intimidating to approach an artist out in the wild and ask them about their work, but most I find are enthusiastic to talk, despite all the sendups of the art world you may have seen on screen. But if you’re looking for some conversation starters, meet five talents who will be at Artist Project this weekend as part of the annual event’s Untapped Emerging Artists Competition. The juried program gives students, new graduates and self-taught artists a free space to show their work and to make new connections with potential buyers, curators and gallerists.
Artist Hayley Chi Hay Chiu.
SuppliedI was immediately struck by the halo of warmth and light in Hayley Chiu’s oil paintings and how she mixes high realism with surrealist imagery, dropping visual clues into each work that speaks to her own personal experiences as a second-generation Chinese Canadian. The OCAD University grad, who is based in Markham and Toronto, produces the kind of work you can spend a long time with and yet still find something new each time.
“Let Me Tell You Something About You” by Hayley Chi Hay Chiu.
Can you sum up your artistic practice in one sentence? Combining the colourful and historically rich imagery of Chinese culture with the motifs of my own life as a Canadian, I document the constantly shifting relationship between my surroundings, my identity and my body.
What can people expect at your booth? I hope people feel immersed into the landscapes I create. That they can rediscover their relationships with themselves and their landscape, something that’s often lost in today’s fast pace. To think about how big they are, and also how small they are.
EN-Artist Ama Liyanage.
SuppliedThere is something so serene and charming about Ama Liyanage’s watercolour paintings that makes me want to leap into her world. Based in Kitchener, the self-taught Sri Lankan–born artist and printmaker captures women of colour in moments of reflection, surrounded by quiet luxuries. There’s a narrative quality to Liyanage’s paintings, which contain many small details that she likens to a jigsaw puzzle.
Can you sum up your practice in one sentence? I intertwine childhood nostalgia with contemporary perspectives to celebrate resilience, diversity and the empowering act of reconnecting with our roots.
What can people expect at your booth? People can expect to find a moment of tranquility within my paintings. I take great pleasure in the thought of people discovering the minuscule details and hope they will see common threads connecting all the paintings. My booth will be a homage to womanhood, the ways I am shaped by my life in Sri Lanka and Canada, and both traditional and contemporary art practices.
Toronto artist Tyler Matheson
SuppliedTyler Matheson is one of the more experienced artists in the section, with an already impressive exhibition and residency history, both as a solo artist and as part of the collaborative QueerSoftOrange. Based in Mississauga, the queer interdisciplinary research-based artist works in a variety of media. I have never seen anything quite like his oblivion series, which combines tiling grout and holographic paper on canvas to create these cave-like portals that feel very futuristic, yet contain a subtle fairy-tale quality, especially when paired with his indigo cyanotypes of human limbs that appear to be submerged under water.
Can you sum up your practice in one sentence? By animating and recontextualizing ostensibly conventional objects, I use my research-based art practice to highlight hidden meaning and queer potential to consider alternative ways of being in the world.
What can people expect at your booth? Shadows, reflections and feet.
EN-VISUALARTS-UPANDCOMING Artist Adetona Omokanye Uploaded by: Deborah Dundas
Adetona OmokanyeOriginally from Lagos, Nigeria, Toronto-based artist Adetona Omokanye focuses his lens on various African cultures through photojournalism and portraiture. Whether focusing on a single subject or shooting an event, Omokanye captures the essence of the moment, treating the artist’s presence like a whisper. I particularly love the vibrancy of his ongoing street hawkers series, with their bodies and wares highlighted against solid bright backgrounds.
Street Hawker, by Adetona Omokanye
Can you sum up your practice in one sentence? I focus on exploring and capturing the rich diversity and cultural dynamics of West Africans, and Africans in diaspora, through storytelling-driven photojournalism.
What can people expect at your booth? People can expect to encounter a rich tapestry of African cultures and diaspora experiences, portrayed through evocative photography that celebrates the beauty, complexity and nuanced stories of African traditions and social landscapes.
Artist Heather Rule
SuppliedToronto artist, animator and zine creator Heather Rule had me at her website name. She may call her ceramic creatures “useless” with their rotund bodies, elongated limbs and paper-bag heads, but they are whimsical delights. It’s no surprise that Rule also uses her ceramics as subjects in her animations: they look like they could wobble right off their plinths. I particularly love her elongated hands with their tentacle-like fingers, which carry the tension of movement even when they’re still.
Can you sum up your practice in one sentence? Think memoir meets self portrait, add humour, and iterate.
What can people expect at your booth?
I will be showing some stop-motion animations, Bag Head sculptures and an accompanying zine! Come for the art, stay for a chat.
The Artist Project runs from April 11 to 14 at the Better Living Centre building in Exhibition Place. theartistproject.com for tickets and more information.
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