OCAD University GradEx at TOAF
GradEx 111
Location: Booth 14-16 | Zone A
Explore a curated selection of four talented student artists selected through OCAD U’s GradEx 111 Showcase. This exhibition is supported by OCAD U’s RBC Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers.
Curatorial Statement
Layers of Essence
Layers of Essence showcases a variety of works by emerging artists from OCAD University’s GradEx 111. These four artists practices utilize drawing & painting, photography, and illustration to explores themes such as self-reflection, perception, memory, and identity. They use intentional colours to convey a variety of different moods and messages in their work, using strategies which range from abstraction to detailed narrative illustrations. This exhibition invites the viewer to question perspectives on lived experiences and to deeply reflect within.
The development of this exhibition was supported by a student curatorial collective that includes Fatma Juma, Natalie Peddie and Jingwei Wang.
Crux, Cindy Soler, 2026, Acrylic, found image collage, pencil crayon, and alcohol marker on cradled wood panel.
dancing with just one finger, Alex Landa, 2026, Oil on wood panel.
hollow play, Lindsay Frankel, 2026, Oil paint on wood canvas.
Once Upon a Time in Toronto (from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Gabi Strauss, 2025, Acrylic on canvas.
Participating Artists
Lindsay Frankel
Lindsay Frankel (B. 2004, Santa Monica, CA), is a contemporary Toronto-based painter from Vancouver B.C.. She uses oil paints to investigate themes of memory, identity, and sexuality. She is currently completing her BFA major in Drawing and Painting and her minor in English at OCAD University. Lindsay’s recent work reflects an interest in cropping images, and re-contextualizing the figure. This process is paired with aquatic motifs, in particular fish, as an exploration of her female experience.
Alex Landa
Alex Landa creates abstract oil paintings in which he explores the larger self in relation to human connection and emotional intimacy. He often works from photographic reference, creating an abstracted image of his reality, his expressive brushwork grounding his paintings in the human experience. Alex is currently working with the motif of light and shadow as a framework to explore the way perception affects the self, his subject matter acting as metaphors for touch, performance, and connection.
Cindy Soler
Cindy Soler (b. 1999, Bogotá, Colombia) is a collage artist and acrylic painter based in Toronto. Her practice explores the malleability and flexibility of our shared reality and the many ways we can shape and complicate it. She recently graduated from OCAD University with an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in painting. She previously studied fine art at Humber College and York University. Her work has been exhibited at The Tranzac, OCAD University, Nielsen Park Creative Centre and Northern Contemporary Gallery. She also works as an arts administrator and installation technician.
Gabi Strauss
I’m Gabi, a Toronto-based painter with a BDes in Illustration from OCAD University. I focus on realism, using acrylic paint and photographic references to create high-contrast pieces that explore light and heightened perception. I love cinematography and fiction, which inspire my use of colour and dark scenes to create images that feel both familiar and surreal. I combine traditional methods and styles like chiaroscuro and glazing with my own layering techniques to play with the push and pull of light and shadow.
