Images: ‘Skin to Skin’ by Miles Ingrassia, 2020 and ‘Promising Young Women’ by Michelle Rodrigues, 2021.

BEING+
Michelle Cieloszczyk, Biba Esaad, Miles Ingrassia, Noah Lima, Roxana Parsa, and Michelle Rodrigues

Curated by Abisola Oni

Online
January 12 – February 28, 2022 at Propeller Art Gallery and TOAF.ca.

The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair is pleased to announce the upcoming Emerging Artists by Emerging Curator Exhibition supported by Propeller Art Gallery. The exhibition, titled BEING+, is curated by the inaugural Flavio Belli Curator Award winner, Abisola Oni.

The curatorial vision for BEING+ explores the nexus between the experience of the individual and the objective social and cultural forces that bind this experience. The ambiguity of the human experience, as recognized by Simone De Beauvoir, suggests we are both subjects who act, and objects who are acted upon, constrained by our physical limits, social barriers, and the political powers of others (The Ethics of Ambiguity, pp.7-34).

BEING+ similarly presents the variable states of selfhood and complicates the supposed rigidity of subject-object relations.

This affirmation of ambiguity brings all of humanity to a shared junction, and BEING+ to Propeller Art Gallery and TOAF.ca in online format.

BEING+ presents six emerging artists who examine the experience of being in relation to social and cultural phenomena and express diverse subjectivities through formal elements and subject matter.

Collectively, BEING+ invites viewers to consider nuances in the socio-cultural fabrication of gender, power relations, the racialized body, and the role of place and kinship in the conceptualization of identity.

Through the duration of the exhibition, audiences can stay tuned to TOAF’s Instagram for behind-the-scenes videos with the curator.

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About the Curator
Abisola Oni is an emerging curator and multidisciplinary artist based in the Greater Toronto Area. Through her visual discourse, she investigates visual and cultural criticism from a philosophical perspective. She is interested in current modes of criticism and curatorial practice and plans to pursue a post-graduate degree to explore this field.

Abisola is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Waterloo with a major in Visual Culture and minor in Studio Practice, with emphasis on performance art. Presently, she is searching for a co-op internship in the Spring of 2022.

ABISOLAONI.ca | INSTAGRAM

About the Flavio Belli Curator Award
The Flavio Belli Curator Award is a mentorship program that gives a student an opportunity to advance their professional development, learn about important issues in the field, share ideas, and develop a working association with a senior gallery curator and other arts professionals. This award is generously sponsored by the Lindy Green Family Charitable Foundation in celebration of our 60th Anniversary, and is thrilled to recognize Flavio Belli, as this year’s mentor.

About Toronto Outdoor Art Fair
Toronto Outdoor Art Fair (TOAF) is Canada’s leading contemporary, juried, outdoor art fair. Founded in 1961, the Fair was established to put visual artists and makers in direct contact with the public and nurture artistic excellence and entrepreneurship. For 60 years, TOAF has been instrumental in launching artists’ careers and bringing art into people’s everyday lives. This free public event has showcased 350+ visual artists and makers and attracted 130,000 visitors to Nathan Phillips Square each year. In response to the pandemic, TOAF created a highly successful and engaging online economic platform and programming. The Fair continues to connect artists and art lovers through year-long showcase, income generation and discovery opportunities for independent artists.

The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair is a registered charitable nonprofit organization.
Canadian Charity #: 119259620 RR0001

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Questions? Contact us.
416-408-2754 | info@torontooutdoor.art