Mask and You shall receive
Kamar Thomas (Guest renter)
JUNE 29, 2022 - JULY 2, 2022
PUBLIC OPENING: June 29, 2022 @ 7PM
Mask and You Shall Receive is a series of oil on canvas paintings and charcoal drawings hung directly on the walls.
At eighteen years old I (Thomas) moved from Jamaica to the United States to study and I discovered I was black but not in the way North Americans were. My work is about the formation of identity, specifically black masculinity. I make oil on canvas paintings and drawings that examine how people present themselves using the metaphor of masks, performances and a mixture of both masks and a performance within a cultural narrative. My work with masks focuses on how they allow the wearer to occupy another identity and the conflicts and results of how that identity is performed.
My process involved painting abstract paintings in face paint onto my subject's face to create a mask. Then I took reference photos, edited them and made paintings from those references. Finally, I created a filter (such as those used on Snapchat etc.) that animate when the painting is in view.
BIOGRAPHY
Kamar Thomas is a fine artist from Port Antonio, Jamaica living in Toronto and currently a Professor at Centennial College. He graduated with a Master's in Fine Art from the University of Connecticut in 2016 and a BA from Wesleyan University in 2012 where he became interested in how people present themselves, the masks they wear, and the differences between who/what is presented and how people really are.
Kamar’s creative output broadly concerns identity, specifically black masculinity. Series of such titles as me, myself and i, Selfies, Schizophrenic Masculinity, Shizomaica and MYTH are ongoing projects that seek to communicate identity as a complex phenomenon. Kamar has collaborated with several charitable foundations that work with Indigenous populations and those in need, namely the Artist for World Peace Foundation and the Jamie Hulley Fund for the Arts through auctions, murals, prizes and numerous fundraisers.
