Artist In Our City: Julian Calleros

By Sasha Suda

It doesn’t take long before the bubblegum beauty of Julian Calleros’s recent mixed-media portrait series, called The half of one self’s, gives way to a web of personal meaning. Adorned with patchwork, embroidery, bright pinks and reds, the portraits put some of the artist’s closest relationships on centre stage.
His mother, boyfriend, grandmother and a couple of his closest friends appear surrounded by a range of symbols that suggest the existence of an intimately personal iconography. Just when you think Julian is letting you into his world, he hides his face behind a paper bag and sticks his tongue out at you in a self-portrait from the same series called I Said Fuck It And Here I Am. It’s as if he wants to shatter any illusions you might have had of getting to know him through his art.
Thankfully, the linen panels are so fun to look at that their biographical content seems secondary anyways. Created during a prestigious Future of Idea Art residency at the Banff Art Centre, the portrait tapestries exemplify the 26-year-old’s refreshing talent for uniting art and craft, an ability that he has otherwise demonstrated in a series of piñatas made in 2003. Here, papier maché genitalia seem suggestive of inner struggles experienced by Calleros while growing up a gay man in México; but, once again, they’re so painstakingly crafted and novel to look at that you are forced to appreciate the art before looking for meaning beyond the visual.
Born in Guadalajara, Julian Calleros immigrated to Toronto in 2001 and landed his first solo show at Gallery X in 2003. Living and working on West Queen West (yeah, he’s that barista at Clafouti across from Trinity Bellwoods), the artist credits Toronto’s cultural diversity with inspiring much of his work. Little Portugal, Kensington Market, Harbourfront and the city’s above-ground train tracks rank amongst his favorite sources for eye candy — a diversity of sources reflected in the broad range of media he works in (oil painting, embroidery, papier maché, video, silk-screening, and most recently, tattoo art).
Coming up in May, Julian will be traveling to Mojacar, Spain where he plans to work on a series of large-scale drawings dedicated to the evolving nature of culture and language as part of another residency, this time sponsored by the Fundacion Valparaiso. You can see Julian’s work here (not work-safe) or check out his body art business Think.Ink Tattoos. He’s also happy to take studio visits, which you can arrange by contacting him via the links above.