SANITIZED ACTIVITY
EMERGING ARTISTS EXHIBITION
Work by Recent Grads from OCADU
Tania Costa, Heejae Jo, Behrad Motekallem, Par Nair, Neil Padaloy and Leah Probst
January 6 — April 6, 2021
See Online Exhibition Catalogue Below
Propeller Art Gallery believes that having access to works from a wide range of artists at various points in their artistic careers enriches communities. Sanitized Activity: Emerging Artists Exhibition is a juried show that includes six 2020 OCADU graduates. We are proud to present these new emerging artists: Tania Costa, Heejae Jo, Behrad Motekallem, Par Nair, Neil Padaloy and Leah Probst.
Propeller was founded by a group of Ontario College of Art graduates in 1996 and so we are delighted to provide this exhibition and support recent grads from OCADU. The tagline “Artists Empowering Artists” has reflected our continued desire and passion to be an independent space for working artists to have the wide range of freedom to develop their creative voice. We hope you enjoy this exhibition!
ARTIST BIO'S:
Tania Costa is a Portuguese artist based in Toronto, working primarily with painting and drawing. Tania is focused on creating work that questions her relationship with her religion and her cultural heritage and how those ideologies have shaped her sense of self and belonging.
Heejae Jo was born in Seoul, Korea, in 1987. Having an interest in learning how people acquire emotion and their patterns of behavior, she studied Educational Psychology at Sookmyung Women’s University. Attending a women’s school also gave a great impact on her feministic perception. Studying abnormal psychology in university, she has been questioning the boundaries between normal and abnormal. In her art, she likes to experiment with what we believe is normal—tradition, universal value, and rational ways of thinking. She immigrated to Canada in 2015. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from OCAD University. Her identity as an immigrant and an Asian female with her interracial marriage life is a major subject matter in her art. In 2019, she decided to use her last name ‘Jo’, rather than ‘Shin’ which was granted by the male-centric convention. She chose ‘Jo’ from the names of people she loves the most.
Behrad Motekallem is an Iranian-Canadian artist based in Montreal, Quebec. In his work intentionally simple subject matter is crafted with a personalized language based around contemporary urban life.
Par Nair is an Indian born Canadian maker who lives and works in Toronto. After acquiring her Fine Art Advanced Diploma from Georgian College (Barrie); followed by a BFA in Drawing and Painting at OCADU (Toronto), she is currently pursuing her MFA in Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media and Design from OCADU. Over the course of her education, she has focused on oil painting, photography and art history. She is the recipient of Project 31- Drawing and Painting Award (OCADU), Excellence in Studio Award (Georgian College), Barrie Arts Club Scholarship, William Moore Award and Peer Printmaking Award (Georgian College)
Neil Padaloy is a young and aspiring Toronto based artist who immigrated to Canada at the age of 7 from the Philippines. Like most artists, he turned his hobby of drawing into a passion as he dedicated his education and future to the arts. He majored in Drawing and Painting at OCAD U however, Neil's current focus is digital painting and digital illustration. He is also well versed in traditional painting using mainly oil paint on canvas as his medium. Currently, Neil is focusing on learning and creating concept art and character and environmental designs.
Leah Probst is a Toronto-based artist, where she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Ontario College of Art and Design University. Working mainly in the traditional medium of oil paint on canvas, she also works in Acrylic and soft pastel. Her subject matter is strongly figurative and portrait-based. Her paintings are comprehensible and recognizable, consisting of vibrant figures that come alive and seem to leap off the canvas. Probst believes that each viewer should be able to take away a unique experience shared with the work of art. I aim to capture the physical likeness and the uniqueness of the individual. Probst conveys clarity and honesty to the portrait, inviting the viewer to appreciate the fundamentals of the subject. She reveal the individual, looking beyond the surface toward the human condition with empathy to the personal connection she has with each subject I paint. The evident slowness in her paintings acknowledge attention paid to the layering of information, built-up levels of paint, and a complexity of mixed colours which bring the paintings to life.
