{"title":"Career Launcher Exhibition | OCADU 2026","description":"\u003cp\u003eJuly 9 - August 3, 2026\u003cbr\u003e1384 Dufferin St. | Upper Floor\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"mcePastedContent\" data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe partnership between OCAD University and Bau-Xi Gallery over the years reflects a shared commitment to supporting the next generation of Canadian artists as they transition from academic study into professional practice. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"mcePastedContent\" data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis collaboration continues with the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCareer Launcher Exhibition\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, which will provide emerging artists with invaluable exposure to collectors, and the broader arts community, while offering practical experience in the early stages of their burgeoning careers.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"mcePastedContent\" data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn this years edition, we are thrilled to present works by Alicia Tran, Ben Janssen, Chimemelie Okafor, Jes Bonnie, Nadine Alexeev, Sofia D'Onofrio, Sue Mackay, and Veronika Bondarenko.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"mcePastedContent\" data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"path-beneath-alicia-tran","title":"Path Beneath | Alicia Tran","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"Inspired by the Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas), a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eMy work explores the relationship between grounded experience (mountains) and the unknown (seas) through recurring symbolism. Moving between physical and cultural landscapes, the paintings reflect how understanding continues to emerge through encounters with unfamiliar environments, perspectives, and forms of living.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eThis body of work consists of 12 mixed-media paintings and a self-narrated graphic book. The paintings are executed in acrylic paint and organic pigments, along with liquid metal\u003cbr\u003epaint and holographic window vinyls to create shifting visual effects as viewers walk through the exhibition space.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eInstagram: @aliciatiannnn\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Career Launcher Exhibition | OCADU 2026","offers":[{"title":"36 X 24 in.","offer_id":48070636208386,"sku":null,"price":1200.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0919\/5944\/files\/AliciaTian-PathBeneath_web.jpg?v=1783019448"},{"product_id":"pandan-cake-and-batik-cop-lereng-flora-ben-janssen","title":"Pandan Cake and Batik Cop Lereng Flora | Ben Janssen","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003eThe Table Dreams Far from Home is a series of staged photographs exploring immigrant culture, diaspora, and mixed cultural households through food and domestic objects. The work considers identity as shaped by lived experience and inherited culture, revealing the ways diasporic individu­als experience partial belonging and cultural hybridity. Each image presents a table setting combining Indonesian textiles, Dutch and Indonesian foods, and Western and East Asian tableware, creating a space where fragments of culture meet and interact. The table becomes both a literal and symbolic place for memory, identity, and exchange.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThrough a diasporic lens, the series reflects the perspective of what I call cultural orphans. These are individuals who encounter their ancestral culture through distance, memory, and fragments of tradition. Customs, language, and practices may feel familiar yet distant, mediated through stories, objects, and experiences filtered by other cultural frameworks. My own connection to Indonesian culture exists largely through food and domestic objects inherited from my family, representing only a portion of a larger cultural landscape. These fragments, passed down through stories and inter­generational memory, reveal the gaps created by geographic and generational separation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe work is informed by my experience navigating life between cultures, including immigrating to Canada from the Netherlands and my simultaneous second-generation Indonesian experience. Food becomes a bridge to culture, and the table becomes a place where memory, diaspora, and identity are gathered and shared. In many images, hands belonging to my family appear serving and sharing food, offering warmth and hospitality while inviting viewers into the scene. The overhead perspective emphasizes the relationships between objects, gestures, and narratives, guiding the eye to consider both visual composition and cultural meaning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe Table Dreams Far from Home invites viewers into this space of exchange. Through objects, food, and shared gestures, the series celebrates the complexity of cultural hybridity. It offers a med­itation on inheritance, adaptation, and belonging, revealing how identities are assembled from frag­ments of memory, tradition, and experience across generations and geographies.\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eInstagram: @notbenjanssen\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Career Launcher Exhibition | OCADU 2026","offers":[{"title":"22 X 32 in. - Edition of 3 + 2 AP","offer_id":48070643548418,"sku":null,"price":1200.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0919\/5944\/files\/BenJanssen-Pandan_web_46e7a27b-fa47-4b9c-9b6e-47dd2f07cdcb.jpg?v=1783021605"},{"product_id":"sota-ayam-and-batik-cop-matif-flora-ben-janssen-1","title":"Sota Ayam and Batik Cop Matif Flora | Ben Janssen","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003eThe Table Dreams Far from Home is a series of staged photographs exploring immigrant culture, diaspora, and mixed cultural households through food and domestic objects. The work considers identity as shaped by lived experience and inherited culture, revealing the ways diasporic individu­als experience partial belonging and cultural hybridity. Each image presents a table setting combining Indonesian textiles, Dutch and Indonesian foods, and Western and East Asian tableware, creating a space where fragments of culture meet and interact. The table becomes both a literal and symbolic place for memory, identity, and exchange.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThrough a diasporic lens, the series reflects the perspective of what I call cultural orphans. These are individuals who encounter their ancestral culture through distance, memory, and fragments of tradition. Customs, language, and practices may feel familiar yet distant, mediated through stories, objects, and experiences filtered by other cultural frameworks. My own connection to Indonesian culture exists largely through food and domestic objects inherited from my family, representing only a portion of a larger cultural landscape. These fragments, passed down through stories and inter­generational memory, reveal the gaps created by geographic and generational separation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe work is informed by my experience navigating life between cultures, including immigrating to Canada from the Netherlands and my simultaneous second-generation Indonesian experience. Food becomes a bridge to culture, and the table becomes a place where memory, diaspora, and identity are gathered and shared. In many images, hands belonging to my family appear serving and sharing food, offering warmth and hospitality while inviting viewers into the scene. The overhead perspective emphasizes the relationships between objects, gestures, and narratives, guiding the eye to consider both visual composition and cultural meaning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe Table Dreams Far from Home invites viewers into this space of exchange. Through objects, food, and shared gestures, the series celebrates the complexity of cultural hybridity. It offers a med­itation on inheritance, adaptation, and belonging, revealing how identities are assembled from frag­ments of memory, tradition, and experience across generations and geographies.\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eInstagram: @notbenjanssen\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Career Launcher Exhibition | OCADU 2026","offers":[{"title":"22 X 32 in. - Edition of 3 + 2 AP","offer_id":48070652690690,"sku":null,"price":1200.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0919\/5944\/files\/BenJanssen-SotoAyam_wewb_c64e3e6e-2d7f-4b6f-85cc-d2f83b2a395d.jpg?v=1783021575"},{"product_id":"mia-goreng-and-batik-tulia-porang-parung-ben-janssen","title":"Mia Goreng and Batik Tulia Porang Parung | Ben Janssen","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003eThe Table Dreams Far from Home is a series of staged photographs exploring immigrant culture, diaspora, and mixed cultural households through food and domestic objects. The work considers identity as shaped by lived experience and inherited culture, revealing the ways diasporic individu­als experience partial belonging and cultural hybridity. Each image presents a table setting combining Indonesian textiles, Dutch and Indonesian foods, and Western and East Asian tableware, creating a space where fragments of culture meet and interact. The table becomes both a literal and symbolic place for memory, identity, and exchange.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThrough a diasporic lens, the series reflects the perspective of what I call cultural orphans. These are individuals who encounter their ancestral culture through distance, memory, and fragments of tradition. Customs, language, and practices may feel familiar yet distant, mediated through stories, objects, and experiences filtered by other cultural frameworks. My own connection to Indonesian culture exists largely through food and domestic objects inherited from my family, representing only a portion of a larger cultural landscape. These fragments, passed down through stories and inter­generational memory, reveal the gaps created by geographic and generational separation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe work is informed by my experience navigating life between cultures, including immigrating to Canada from the Netherlands and my simultaneous second-generation Indonesian experience. Food becomes a bridge to culture, and the table becomes a place where memory, diaspora, and identity are gathered and shared. In many images, hands belonging to my family appear serving and sharing food, offering warmth and hospitality while inviting viewers into the scene. The overhead perspective emphasizes the relationships between objects, gestures, and narratives, guiding the eye to consider both visual composition and cultural meaning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe Table Dreams Far from Home invites viewers into this space of exchange. Through objects, food, and shared gestures, the series celebrates the complexity of cultural hybridity. It offers a med­itation on inheritance, adaptation, and belonging, revealing how identities are assembled from frag­ments of memory, tradition, and experience across generations and geographies.\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eInstagram: @notbenjanssen\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Career Launcher Exhibition | OCADU 2026","offers":[{"title":"22 X 32 in. - Edition of 3 + 2 AP","offer_id":48070662455554,"sku":null,"price":1200.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0919\/5944\/files\/BenJanssen-MieGoreng_web_1450b49f-a6ff-4949-accd-2da56a2bbc91.jpg?v=1783021652"},{"product_id":"things-fall-apart-chimemelie-okafor","title":"Things Fall Apart | Chimemelie Okafor","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003eMy work explores themes of Indigenous knowledge systems, womanhood, and ongoing social issues connected to my home country. I often use metaphor and satire to explore complex topics, placing figures in moments of gesture within surreal, collage-like spaces. My painting process involves building layers of colour and pattern using oil paint.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese layered surfaces create visually engaging compositions while also reflecting the material and process-based qualities of West African textile production. After learning that many textiles commonly associated with African identity have histories shaped through colonial trade, I became interested in developing my own visual language rather than referencing existing designs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy most recent body of work focuses on concepts of time within Igbo culture, going through stages of decolonization, starting from progressing from pre-colonial understandings of time to colonial disruption, resistance, and a re-centering of Igbo knowledge as a complete and self-sustaining framework. Recurring motifs such as circles, spirals, curved lines, and polka dots represent the spiralic flow of time understood by the Igbo people of Nigeria.\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eInstagram: @chi.mejo\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Career Launcher Exhibition | OCADU 2026","offers":[{"title":"48 X 60 in.","offer_id":48070662914306,"sku":null,"price":7000.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0919\/5944\/files\/ChimemelieOkafor_ThingsFallApart_web.jpg?v=1783021786"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0919\/5944\/collections\/OCADUGIF.gif?v=1783018977","url":"https:\/\/bau-xi.com\/en-us\/collections\/career-launcher-exhibition-ocadu-2026.oembed","provider":"Bau-Xi Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}