Miles Ingrassia
Home: Toronto, Ontario
Title: Near Miss
Media: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 102 x 81 cm
Website: milesingrassia.com
Instagram: @milesingrassia
ARTIST STATEMENT
My practice investigates contemporary masculinity and the contradictions within its performance; how tenderness, aggression, desire, and shame coexist beneath inherited cultural norms. Through large-scale figurative oil paintings, I explore the social and emotional terrain of young men navigating identity and intimacy within a cultural framework that often discourages emotional fluency.
The conceptual foundation of my work is rooted in the idea of gender as something performed through repeated social acts rather than an inherent, fixed identity. By examining these repetitions, my paintings explore the instability of masculine behaviour and the possibility of alternative expressions. They resist spectacle in favour of quiet ambiguity, allowing moments of vulnerability to emerge without resolution.
I am drawn to imagery that reveals how young men negotiate intimacy and touch through ritualized behaviours. Mosh pits, drunken half-hugs, the short leash of a cell phone charger, the promise of getting high; ordinary gestures that young men utilize to negotiate intimacy. These fleeting moments reveal the tension between affection and restraint, exposing forms of tenderness that are often concealed beneath humour, performance, or indifference.
My most recent works have shifted toward the uncertain space where friendship and desire overlap. A hand brushing against a thigh, two bodies drawn together over a lottery ticket, or a furtive glance shared over a glass of wine become moments where the boundaries of masculine intimacy begin to blur. These paintings activate a space between queer and heteronormative expressions of masculinity, embracing tension, ambiguity, and fluidity.
Through my practice, I aim to expand the visual language of masculinity by creating images that embrace contradiction instead of certainty. These paintings invite reflection on intimacy, vulnerability, and the fragile performances through which we understand ourselves and one another.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Ingrassia grew up in a working-class household in Hamilton, Ontario, before moving to Toronto to pursue a Fine Arts Degree in Printmaking at OCAD University. Following that, Ingrassia worked professionally as a silkscreen printer before pivoting to oil painting during his master’s degree at York University. Ingrassia currently teaches at OCAD University as a Sessional Instructor. Ingrassia has exhibited both locally and internationally. His work has been recognized by municipal, provincial and federal granting bodies, and has been featured in several publications, including Hyperallergic Magazine, CBC Arts, and D la Repubblica, among others.