Biography
Tori Maas is a Toronto-based multi-disciplinary artist originally from Sarnia, Ontario. After completing secondary school, she attended BealArt in London Ontario where her studio focus was in analog photography and textiles. Most recently, she has received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from York University, specializing in photography and drawing. She has had solo exhibitions at The Arts Project in London, Ontario and the Special Projects Gallery at York University.
Statement
Tori Maas uses her influences of graphic design and typography to feature text as the main focus of her work. In her work, text becomes image and the statements she creates tell the story of both her own and more universal doubts. She uses bold textual statements to expose the fragility that often lies just below the surface, and the fragile nature of the imagined persona. These statements reveal truths about self doubt that are felt by nearly everyone – they tell anyone and everyone’s stories while at the same time being incredibly personal to the artist.
Tori’s background in textiles and fibre art draws her toward using richly patterned fabrics and papers to act in opposition to the often stark textual statements. Her works, when put together form an inner monologue – a series of thoughts and moments experienced while drifting through life, unnoticed and complacent. Her work gives voice to those feelings that are often buried just behind the façade of daily life and social acceptability, while at the same time using pattern, colour, and inherent two-dimensionality to celebrate that same façade.
