Jonah Strub is a Toronto-based gay, Jewish sculptor, painter, and ceramicist.
Jonah’s artwork is a visual love letter to the aesthetics of camp, kitsch, musical theatre, Yiddish humour, and drag. His inspirations often derive from strong Jewish women, theatrical costumes and patterns, toys, and the queer Jewish sensibilities of tasteless tchotchkes. One way he marries his Jewishness, gayness, theatricality, and veneration of women in a harmonious coexistence is through his drag alter ego, Loxanne Creamcheese, who is the epitome of a Jewish, vivacious, and fruitacious superstar. Whether she is represented as a beautiful hairy woman or as a cat, with her iconic schnoz and orange moustache, Jonah is channelling what Susan Sontag sums up so well in her famous manifesto Notes on Camp:
“Jews and homosexuals are the outstanding creative minorities in contemporary urban culture.”
Through both his interest in queer Jewish themes, and through more general character and object design. Jonah intends to project joy and playfulness through his work. Many of his pieces resemble toys and can be interacted with, often inviting the viewer to engage with and activate the clay characters’ personalities and stories. By using humour, bright colours, animal prints, silly creatures, and bushels of body hair, Jonah highlights the joys of Matzo ball-flavoured femininity, effervescent queerness, charismatic characters, the beauty of bric-a-brac, and the opulence of outrageous up-dos.
Curriculum Vitae
Education and Residencies
2014-2019 B.A. Double Major in Studio Art and Honours Psychology, University of Guelph
2018-19 Specialized Studio Practice
2019 Visiting Exchange Student at University of the Arts Bremen (HfK), Bremen, Germany
2021-2022 Certificate in Cartooning and Illustration, George Brown College
2023 Emerging Banff Artist in Residence - Winter 2023, The Banff Centre
Selected Exhibitions and Artist Talks
2024 Fusion Breakthrough PLUS Travelling Exhibition
· Newmarket Town Hall, Newmarket, ON
· Art Gallery of Burlington, Burlington, ON
· The Canadian Clay and Glass Museum, Waterloo, ON
· The Thames Gallery, Innisfil, ON
2024 NPCC Celebrates Pride Official Juror, Nielsen Park Creative Centre, Toronto, ON
2024 The Early Bird Gets the Worm, Group Show, Aurora Cultural Centre, Aurora, ON
2024 The Artist Project 2024, Art Fair, The Better Living Centre, Toronto, ON
2023 “Party People Part Deux”, Group Show, Black Book Gallery, Denver, CO, USA
2023 “Celebrate 30”, Auction, Canadian Clay and Glass Museum, Waterloo, ON
2023 “Art Lotto Presents: Super Hot Scene”, Group Show, B Side Gallery, Hamilton, ON
2023 “NPCC Celebrates Pride Featuring Jonah Strub”, Artist Talk, Nielsen Park Creative Centre, Toronto, ON
2023 “The Artist’s Project: Untapped Emerging Artist”, Better Living Centre, Exhibition Place, Toronto, ON
2023 “I Saw the Merman at the Banff Trading Post”, Glyde Hall, Banff, AB
2023 “Voices” Exhibiton Roundtabe and Artist Talk, Canadian Clay and Glass Museum, Waterloo, ON
2022 “Toy Show”, Group Show, Toutoune Gallery, Toronto, ON
2022 “Voices”, Group Show, Canadian Clay and Glass Museum, Waterloo, ON
2022 “Boob Tube”, Performance, Globe Studios, Kitchener, ON
2022 “Apophenia Zephyr”, Group Show, The Drey Gallery, Toronto, ON
2022 “Living Room Show”, Group Show, Fabricated Gallery, Halifax, NS
2022 “Cezanne’s Closet”, Group Show, Union Gallery, Kingston, ON
2021 “Garden Variety Show”, Group show, Storus Garden, Toronto, ON
2021 “Adorned: Part of CONTACT Festival”, Group show, The Plumb, Toronto, ON
2021 “Proud Deviants and Queer Multiples”, Digital group show, Hamilton, ON
2021 “Temporary Collection”, Digital group show, EdVideo, Guelph, ON
2021 “Plumbraiser Auction”, Digital group show and auction, The Plumb, Toronto, ON
2019 “I.D.”, Group show, Blue Room Gallery, Toronto, ON
2019 “IBS: The Musical”, Solo show, Front Room Gallery, Waterloo, ON
Bibliography
“Going to Artist Project this weekend? Add these 5 things to your agenda” by Leah Collings, CBC Arts, April 10, 2024
https://www.cbc.ca/arts/artist-project-2024-toronto-what-to-see-1.7169216
“Hi, Art” by Wynne Neilly, CBC Arts, April 16, 2023
“Buying Art: Artist Project hits Toronto with everything from kitschy ceramics to portraits to large-scale installations and a tower of banned books” by Sue Carter, Toronto Star, April 12, 2023
Smith, Matthew Ryan, PhD. “Clay, Glass, and Textures of Identity.” Voices: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Canada. Exhibiton Catalogue (2022): Pages 62-66
“Experiential Learning Alumni Feature: Jonah Strub”, by Ahmri Vandeborne, Co-operative Education and Career Services at the University of Guelph, June 2, 2021
“Community Feature: Jonah Elizabeth Strub”, by Elly Grant, Double Dipped, March 21, 2021
https://doubledipped.ca/jonah-elizabeth-strub/
“August Featured Artist”, by Ahmri Vandeborne and Abby Nowakowski, Otherwise Studios, August 1st, 2020
https://otherwisestudios.com/featured-artists/august-featured-artist-2/
“Creamcheese, Chimeras and Cheetah Print: IBS The Musical by Jonah Strub at The Front Room Gallery in Waterloo, ON” by Rebecca Casalino, Off Centre, January 16th, 2020,
https://weareoffcentre.com/Creamcheese-Chimeras-and-Cheetah-Print