Omar Chris Canales-Cisneros

Omar Chris Canales-Cisneros is a Toronto-based painter of Salvadorian
descent. 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. His most recent work combines this technique with canvases he fabricates using Salvadorian textiles, taking on forms that expand the picture plane, giving the work sculptural characteristics. The imagery dissects themes of family dynamics in relation to his  identity and has translucent elements to allow the textiles to come through, allowing their vibrancy to contrast the somber monochromatic palette of the ash pigment.