Omar Chris Canales-Cisneros

Omar Chris Canales-Cisneros is a Toronto-based painter of Salvadorian descent. He graduated from OCAD University in 2023, majoring in Drawing and Painting with a minor in Sculpture and Installation. During his studies, he received the Marsh Urquhart Scholarship and was awarded the Mrs. W.O. Forsyth Award upon graduation, as well as the Barrie Art Award for Emerging Artist. He has exhibited across Ontario in institutions such as the MacLaren Art Centre, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, and Arta Gallery, in addition to art fairs such as TOAF and the Artist Project, where he received the Untapped Award for Emerging Artists. Beyond traditional gallery settings, Canales-Cisneros collaborates with institutions such as the University of Toronto, creating artwork in a medical illustration capacity. He has also worked with the Consulate of El Salvador and has received recognition for promoting awareness of Salvadorian culture and heritage abroad. In addition to his artistic practice, he is committed to supporting local art communities and currently manages an artist-run center for emerging artists in Barrie, Ontario, called Spareroom Studios. His practice is primarily based in painting and expands into sculpture and installation. As a Latin American man, Canales' work is concerned with exploring issues of identity, which entails heritage, sexuality, gender, and, most importantly, the intersectionality of these fields. His practice implements the artistic methodology of decreation by burning materials that are representative of prejudicial ideologies and incorporating the resulting ashes into a final body of work, using the ashes as pigment for oil paint.