Onsite Gallery, OCAD University

Image Courtesy of Artist

In Conversation: Doktor Karayom with Ana Serrano + No One’s At Home (Walang Tao Sa Bahay) Exhibition Opening Reception

Wednesday, August 14, 2024, 5 – 7pm
Onsite Gallery, Toronto

Experience an enlightening conversation between the Philippines Ateneo Award recipient artist Doktor Karayom and OCAD U President + Vice Chancellor Ana Serrano as they reveal and introduce the fascinating exhibition No One’s At Home (Walang Tao Sa Bahay) on Wednesday, August 14 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. This new mixed media project is the result of Doktor’s month-long international residency at OCAD University. The in-situ installation created for Onsite Gallery explores the spiritual essence of a home and the nurturing it requires.

Discover how Doktor Karayom brings to life the dynamic energies within a home through lively and imagined personas, embodying tradition, prosperity, responsibility, pandemonium, and balance. This exhibition invites you to step into an imagined space where universal connections of spirit and relationships come alive.

The conversation is followed by an opening reception to celebrate the new exhibition.

Register here

Doktor Karayom: No One’s at Home (Walang Tao Sa Bahay)

August 14 to November 30, 2024

Onsite Gallery has invited international Ateneo Art Award recipient Filipino artist Doktor Karayom (aka Russel Trinidad) to takeover and occupy a section of the main gallery to develop an in-situ mural and installation during his July/August artist residency at OCAD University.

The mixed media exhibition titled No One’s At Home (Walang Tao Sa Bahay) explores the spiritual essence of a home and the expectations of care and nurturing it entails. Through lively and imagined personas, Doktor addresses the dynamic energies within a home that require maintenance, embodying aspects of tradition, prosperity, responsibility, pandemonium, and balance. The exhibition is an invitation to visit an imagined space where one encounters a universal familiarity of spirit and relations.

The Ateneo Art Awards (AAA), established in 2004 by the Ateneo Art Gallery at Ateneo De Manila University in the Philippines, is a prestigious award in contemporary art. It aims to nurture and promote Philippine contemporary art by focusing on artists aged 36 and under, providing them with a platform to showcase their innovative work. The award enriches the cultural landscape of the Philippines and offers winners opportunities for both local and international art residencies. Partnering with OCAD University, which will offer its first Toronto residency in 2024, signifies the global recognition and reach of the Ateneo Art Awards, allowing winners to engage with the international art scene and fostering cross-cultural exchanges. Through this, the AAA not only recognizes emerging artists but also offers them growth, collaboration, and international exposure.

About the Artist

Russel Trinidad, publicly known by his street name moniker Doktor Karayom, is a full-time artist (with a number of national awards under his belt) known for his multidisciplinary work distinctly fusing the color red and distorted human anatomy across genres such as graffiti, graphic design and sculpture installation. He doesn’t restrict himself to using a single medium when creating his pieces, utilizing whatever’s available. Whether it be working with acrylic paint, clay, resin, or plaster for sculpture making, he begins with sketching down ideas on his sketchbook, using his trusty red ballpen. The exhibition will build on his reputable career and distinct style.

For his inspirations, Doktor Karayom absorbs the world around him, transforming reality into concepts he can use for his projects. His fascination on horror and gore, combined with a tongue-in-cheek playfulness, suggests a unique avant-garde approach to expressing social commentaries and addressing realities at play as a distraction to the political zeal in his home country. His approach and versatile practice are topical to many practices found in Toronto’s local art sector.

Onsite Gallery is generously supported by The Delaney Family. We also acknowledge the support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Government of Ontario and Toronto Arts Council.

About Onsite Gallery
www.ocadu.ca/onsite
Onsite Gallery, OCAD University’s flagship professional gallery, presents contemporary, Indigenous, and public art and design to advance knowledge creation and stimulate local and international conversations on the urgent issues of our time.

Onsite Gallery
199 Richmond Street West
Toronto, ON M5V 0H4

Gallery Hours
Wednesday: 12 to 7 p.m.
Thursday to Saturday: 12 to 5 p.m.
Gallery admission and all events are free.

Onsite Gallery is an accessible venue with all-gender, single-user washrooms.
» Detailed accessibility information found here

About OCAD University (OCAD U)
OCAD University (www.ocadu.ca) is Canada’s university of the imagination. Founded in 1876, the university is dedicated to art, design and digital media education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines.

Contact Information:
Susan Jama
Programs & Community Coordinator, Onsite Gallery
susanjama@ocadu.ca

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