Curtis Talwst Santiago

I am a Trinidadian-Canadian artist, engaged in mixedmedia and performance practices. Through my work, I explore the narrative of art history, whilst inserting elements of different cultures in order to engage a larger audience and in hopes of broadening the art historical canon as a whole.

For the last two years I have been devoted to my project, Infinity, a series of miniature
dioramas housed in reclaimed ring boxes. The work's small scale allows me the
opportunity for a very particular kind of meditation. The overarching theme is related to
time and space; to my sense of the vastness and the fragility of the world which I inhabit; and my fleeting memories of this world. Both are modeled after personal experiences.

Ultimately, I wish to capture the moments that are, essentially, ineffable, and all the
more moving because of their fugitive nature. A moment or a memory - sentimental
and comical - is captured, very tenderly. The broadness of my ideas about the world,
temporality, memory, is intimated in the stark obverse, by the extreme miniature boxes
and dioramas. Conversely, the instability of memory, of the Earth itself, in peril, is, I
believe, reflected in my medium and method. To contain such moments, with joy an...

2007-2010:
Apprenticeship with Aboriginal Artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
Vancouver, British Columbia

2007:
Attended Emily Carr Fine Arts (Drawing and Painting)
Vancouver, British Columbia

2013: Little Salon Toronto Walnut Contemporary
Toronto, Ontario (Invitational)
2013: Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series Finalist, RUSH Arts
New York, New York (Juried)
2013: Annual Manifesto Festival Art Exhibition
Toronto, Ontario (Invitational)
2013: Mama Birding, Communications Art Gallery
Toronto, Ontario (Invitational)
2013: Mama Birding, Loom Gallery
Brooklyn, New York (Invitational)
2012:*Death of Swag, Fuse Gallery
New York, New York
2011: Good to See You, Drake Hotel
Toronto, Ontario (Invitational)
2011: 7 Senses, 7 For All Man Kind
Toronto, Ontario (Invitational)

2011: The Cheaper Show no.10
Vancouver, British Columbia (Juried)
2011: * Artrageous 3, Partners in Art and the AGO
Toronto Ontario
2011: Winter Interlude, Angell Gallery
Toronto, Ontario
2010: Live Painting Performance
Vancouver Art Gallery
2010: * Swagged Out, Chuck Akudu Gallery
Toronto, Ontario
2010: * The Works Art & Design Festival
Edmonton, Alberta (juried)
2010: The Cheaper Show no.9
Vancouver, ...