toronto artists

5 Toronto artists to watch in 2016

Toronto artists to watch in the new year use a myriad of media to inspire and dazzle our city with their multifaceted work. To aid in the compilation of this post, we reached out to a number of well-known, local gallerists to learn more about who they're keeping their eyes on as we roll into a new season of opening and exhibitions.

Here are some Toronto artists to keep your eye on in 2016.

Marvin Luvualu Antonio
This recent OCADU grad won the Aimia AGO Photography Prize Scholarship back in 2014 and had his work shown in the gallery's Weston Hall. Now Antonio, who's originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, is gearing up for his solo exhibition happening this spring at the Clint Roenisch Gallery.

Megan Ellen MacDonald
Wil Kucey, the director of LE Gallery, says MacDonald was the most popular artist at his Art Toronto booth back in October. MacDonald uses classic techniques to paint culturally relevant ephemera, like ceramic cats. She won the Artist Project's UNTAPPED Emerging Artists Competition last year and you can see her work at the 2016 fair and at the LE Gallery during her solo show happening this spring.

Erin Loree
Her sweeping abstract paintings, with their kaleidoscope of colours and thick coats of paints, are mesmerizing. And you can see her massive new canvases at her first major solo exhibition happening this winter, from January 8 to 30, at Angell Gallery.

Maya Fuhr
Locally based artist Maya Fuhr has been making a name for herself in the world of fashion photography for the past few years, but her photographic work has become even more prominent in 2015: along with cheeky photo essays in Vice, she's shown her work in both Canada and the United States and exhibited at the AGO's Midnight Massive Party.

Samara Shuter
Shuter's pop art work - notably her paintings of headless, dapper men - have gotten her noticed in the past number of years in both the corporate world and the visual arts scene. In 2015, she released her very own colouring book and she's now gearing up for a solo show at the newly opened Struck Contemporary.

What Toronto artists are on your radar? Let us know in the comments.

Image via Marvin Luvualu Antonio's web site.


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