Project 31 to auction artworks from 49 leading artists and designers

OCAD University is pleased to announce the line up of 49 leading artists and designers who will be participating in Project 31 on Tuesday, November 28. This exciting list of artists includes acclaimed University faculty and alums.

Project 31 is a unique online and in-person fundraising event that is featuring an auction of artwork to support programming and bursaries for OCAD U students who are Indigenous, Black and People of Colour.

This year’s in-person event takes place at 6 p.m. at 100 McCaul St. in the heart of Toronto’s art and culture corridor. Guests will enjoy cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and an exclusive live auction with up to 20 lots and a silent online auction of up to 29 lots. Early bidding on both auctions opens on November 21.

Tickets are now available for $175.

ANNOUNCING THE ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS

The following 49 Canadian artists and designers have donated artworks to be auctioned at Project 31.

Live Auction

LOT L1  JULIA ROSE SUTHERLAND
LOT L2 NATIA LEMAY
LOT L3 SARAH LETOVSKY
LOT L4 APRIL HICKOX
LOT L5 JASON BAERG
LOT L6 KESTIN CORNWALL
LOT L7 MICHELLE PERAZA
LOT L8 LAUCHLAN REID
LOT L9 MEERA MARGARET SINGH
LOT L10 GORDON SHADRACH
LOT L11 SCOTT EVERINGHAM
LOT L12 ROSALIE FAVELL
LOT L13 MITCHELL FENTON
LOT L14 ANDA KUBIS
LOT L15 SARAH NIND
LOT L16 EMERALD REPARD-DENNISTON
LOT L17 MAX DEAN
LOT L18 RAJNI PERERA
LOT L19 GARY TAXALI
LOT L20 NATALIE MAJABA WALDBURGER

Silent Auction

LOT S1 MISBAH AHMED
LOT S2 KEVIN BAE
LOT S3 ANTHIA BARBOUTSIS
LOT S4 JASMINE CARDENAS
LOT S5 SHEA CHANG
LOT S6 PAUL DALLAS
LOT S7 ALEA DRAIN
LOT S8 STEPHEN FOSTER
LOT S9 DAVID GRIFFIN
LOT S10 JODY HEWGILL
LOT S11 ATLEIGH HOMMA
LOT S12 VLADIMIR KANIC
LOT S13 CHUNG-IM KIM
LOT S14 SHINAE KIM
LOT S15 MITSUO KIMURA
LOT S16 JJ LEE
LOT S17 BRYN LUDLOW
LOT S18 TIMOTHY MANALO
LOT S19 WRIK MEAD
LOT S20 JULIE MOON
LOT S21 NITHIKUL NIMKULRAT
LOT S22 EMMA NISHIMURA
LOT S23 DIANE PUGEN
LOT S24 ILENE SOVA
LOT S25 VLADIMIR SPICANOVIC
LOT S26 JON TODD
LOT S27 YAW TONY
LOT S28 ANNIE TUNG
LOT S29 MICHÈLE WHITE

SPOTLIGHT ON TWO ARTISTS

Rajni Perera

Flag
Polymer clay, brass wire, cotton, linen, acrylic
2019, 23” x 14” x 3½”
Courtesy of the artist and Patel Brown
Estimate: $3,850

Painter and sculptor Rajni Perera graduated with a BFA in Drawing and Painting from OCAD U in 2011. She won the medal for Drawing and Painting at OCAD U and has since participated in many exhibitions and won awards, including being shortlisted for the prestigious Sobey Art Award in 2021. Perera’s work is in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Sobey Foundation and the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal.

Perera was born in Sri Lanka in 1985 and lives and works in Toronto. She explores issues of hybridity, futurity, ancestorship, immigration identity/cultures, monsters and dream worlds. All of these themes marry in a newly objectified realm of mythical symbioses. In her work she seeks to open and reveal the dynamism of the icons and objects she creates, both scripturally existent, self-invented and externally defined. She creates a subversive aesthetic that counteracts antiquated, oppressive discourse, and acts as a restorative force through which people can move outdated, repressive modes of being towards reclaiming their power.

Sarah Letovsky

Close-ups (Series) 5
Watercolour and ink on paper, framed
2022, 19” x 15”
Courtesy of the artist and Patel Brown
Estimate: $1,950

Artist Sarah Letovsky graduated from OCAD U with a BFA in Drawing and Painting in 2014 and was the recipient of the Mrs. W.O. Forsyth Award for Excellence in Painting. She has participated in many exhibitions, including three solo exhibitions at Patel Brown (previously Project Gallery). Her work has also been featured at The Dallas Art Fair and Art Toronto. Her works are held in private collections in Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles and New York.

Letovsky takes inspiration from the tradition of figurative painting and the female subject as muse with a painting language wholly her own in which flesh, faces and background invite a play between subject, brushstroke and the physical process of painting. Influenced by the interior lives of women, Letovsky’s work often evokes a sense of intimacy, hinting at spaces of belonging and familiarity such as bedrooms and living rooms. Her subjects seem to look both inward and outward at the viewer; there is tension in their gaze, an unease, a questioning. For Letovsky, the portrait is an armature for expressions with paint and often quiet moments are contradicted with bold colour and gesture.