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‘Welcome to Paradise’ is a maximalist exhibition that merges my mural and street art practice with my studio process into a smaller-scale gallery setting. Echoing the staggering abundance of consumer culture, I use the aesthetics and sheer volume of familiar objects and iconography to create work that is instantly relatable, but with a subverted twist. The organic forms and strange characters I paint directly onto the objects embody the opposite of the materials themselves, becoming metaphors for community, reciprocity, and our need for connection within a commercial landscape that so often discourages it.
My broader practice embraces absurdity as a strategy of resistance. What began as a personal means of carving out space within an overwhelming socioeconomic landscape has evolved into a reclamation of the very materials that shape it. Nearly everything in the exhibition is made from repurposed objects: former bus-shelter advertisements, reclaimed condo signage, and curb-scored plates, all transformed to create new meanings and narratives beyond their original intentions. Each piece challenges the disposability embedded in our urban systems, insisting instead on humour, grace, and the possibility of renewal.
Scattered throughout the exhibition, however, are a handful of works made entirely from scratch rather than through interventions with found objects. These pieces are a deviation from my usual practice, which relies on our pre-existing relationships with everyday materials to shape their meaning. Instead, they represent a respite from the noise: spaces and communities that exist outside systems of consumption and reminders of our capacity to create, protect, and advocate for places where connection can flourish.
Stephanie Avery is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist whose work transforms discarded materials and familiar consumer imagery into playful interventions that explore community, resilience, and resistance. Through murals, installations, and interventions, she reclaims advertisements, condo signage, and other urban detritus, using humour and absurdity to challenge consumer culture while creating moments of connection and joy. Her practice celebrates the power of collective care, inviting audiences to imagine more hopeful ways of relating to each other and the spaces we share.
You can see more of her work as murals across the city, on Instagram at @stephvonawesome, and at stephanieavery.com