Do you need a little extra UMPH in your life? Yes, we said UMPH. If you said yes, and me-oh-my, even if you didn’t, you need to channel your inner sparkling diva and introduce yourself to our featured artist this month. We love the artist’s use of bright colours, fun patterns, and pure humour to create intricate and lively artworks. JONAH STRUB’s work will make you laugh and want to buy a feather boa or two, all while questioning and challenging the stereotypes of gender roles.
Jonah Strub is a Toronto based, gay, Jewish, gluten intolerant artist who works predominantly in the realms of painting, sculpture, and ceramics. His artwork is a visual love letter to the aesthetics of camp, kitsch, musical theatre, Yiddish humour, and drag.
Jonah’s practice centers around the ideas of gender expression and visibility, specifically focusing on his own femininity, where he uses his drag alter ego, Loxanne Creamcheese, to find power in his flamboyancy and visually assert himself in a way that is, dare I say it, impossible to ignore. By using humour, bright colours, animal prints, wigs, and bushels of body hair, Jonah hopes to create conversations around the true meanings of masculinity, femininity, and outrageous up-dos in a society that has too many gender restrictions and not enough cheetah print.