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John Nobrega

@john.nobrega

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Painter, muralist, video artist

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John Nobrega is a painter, muralist and video artist known for works that use Art-History to interrogate contemporary themes.

He has shown extensively in Canada,
including at the Agnes Etherington Museum in Kingston and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto.

His commissions for site-specific artworks include the Park Hyatt Hotel, the Toronto Zoo, and the Chinatown BIA

He has been widely collected throughout North America.
@john.nobrega by @john.nobrega

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12 days ago

Some rotoscoped animation I did for an upcoming Punk documentary. This work was originally commissioned by @marcolepsy

#punk #animation #joydivision by @john.nobrega

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13 days ago

Another Chapter in the saga of Sister Inga. by @john.nobrega

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2 months ago

The Avenging Conscience, 9x12 oil on panel. 2026. Still available, one of the very few. by @john.nobrega

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2 months ago

ONGOING

THE AESTHETICS OF DISAPPEARANCE
with
Schem Bader, Jubal Brown, John Nobrega

May 8 - June 6, 2026

Seen here are some of John's nun paintings in oil. Three of the paintings are still available.

Two of John's videos are showing as well – "A Failed Seducer", and "The Visions of Sister Inga".

From the Press Release: "Artist John Nobrega collides lust and disgust, the sacred and profane, in his work across video and painting that tunnel deeply into our comfortable past to resurrect new visions, many of them hallucinatory. The video “A Failed Seducer” (2:30') is a gem – transporting us to a glamorous, big city romantic era that proceeds to melt into dream-like horror. Yet a kiss is still a kiss.

“John’s notorious Nunsploitation series continues here with new oil on panel paintings. Devout women in the throes of joyful sorrow, cast and lit as silent film goddesses guilty perhaps of a delicious sin."

@schem_bader @jubalbrown @john.nobrega #theaestheticsofdisappearance #paulvirilio #societyofthespectacle #art #gallery #painting #drawing #film #video #installation #downtowntoronto #westend #pseudonympress @tasmanrichardson #curator #nun taken in 401 Richmond Street West by @john.nobrega

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4 months ago

ONGOING

THE AESTHETICS OF DISAPPEARANCE
with
Schem Bader, Jubal Brown, John Nobrega

May 8 - June 6, 2026

In his book “The Aesthetics of Disappearance” (1980), Paul Virilio argues that the dominant feature of modern consciousness is no longer “being”, but speed – from horses to jets to fibre optics – and specifically how the acceleration of machine-driven image consumption leaves our all-to-human cognitive abilities far behind. There are now gaps in our perception that we fill with hallucination.

Enter Schem Bader, Jubal Brown, and John Nobrega – artists throwing hard punches at a society, a world, where late-stage capitalism inflicts predictable harm on us poor homo sapiens in the form of alienation, disaffection, endless desire, nihilism.

The hard punches are very satisfying.

We’re showing a new film by Nobrega, “The Visions of Sister Inga”, a silent melodrama in the histrionic style of a century old D.W Griffith movie.

We’re also showing “A Failed Seducer”, an animated film in which a classic Hollywood melodrama is reimagined as body horror, while retaining the obligatory happy ending.

Nobrega also continues his notorious Nunsploitation series with a group of new oil on panel portraits.

John Nobrega creates videos and paintings in which binaries of meaning are constantly shifting: lust and disgust, irony and sincerity, the sacred and profane, and crucially, the past and the present. The history of painting and cinema are subject to a perverse detournement where representation itself is subject to the forces of desire and alienation.

In these films and paintings, transcendence (almost) always fails, and love leads inevitably to abjection.

@schem_bader @jubalbrown @john.nobrega #theaestheticsofdisappearance #paulvirilio #societyofthespectacle #art #gallery #painting #drawing #film #video #installation #downtowntoronto #westend #pseudonympress @tasmanrichardson #curator #artcollector #artadvisor @401richmond taken in 401 Richmond Street West by @john.nobrega

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4 months ago

OPENING MAY 8

Gagné Contemporary is thrilled to present "The Aesthetics of Disappearance", opening Friday, May 8 from 6-9pm.

The show features artists Schem Bader, Jubal Brown, and John Nobrega.

Seen here is a sequence from Nobrega's film "A Failed Seducer", which is one of two films showing alongside his recent Nunsploitation paintings.

From the press release: "Artist John Nobrega collides lust and disgust, the sacred and profane, in his work across video and painting that tunnel deeply into our comfortable past to resurrect new visions, many of them hallucinatory.

"The video “A Failed Seducer” (2:30') is a gem – transporting us to a glamorous, big city romance that proceeds to melt into dream-like horror. And yet a kiss is still a kiss.

"John’s notorious Nunsploitation series continues here with new oil on panel paintings. Devout women in the throes of joyful sorrow, cast and lit as silent film goddesses guilty perhaps of a delicious sin."

Come by and celebrate the artists and their work. DJ Cuthbert Steel will be providing the beats.

@schem_bader @jubalbrown @john.nobrega #theaestheticsofdisappearance #paulvirilio #societyofthespectacle #art #gallery #painting #drawing #film #video #installation #downtowntoronto #westend #pseudonympress @tasmanrichardson #curator #artcollector #artadvisor @401richmond @cuthbertsteel taken in 401 Richmond Street West by @john.nobrega

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5 months ago

The Blasphemer

The Dishonoured

Both “9x12 oil on panel. Part of The Aesthetics of Disappearance, at @gagnecontemporary opening May 8th.

DM for prices and availability. by @john.nobrega

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5 months ago

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5 months ago

OPENING MAY 8

Gagné Contemporary is thrilled to present "The Aesthetics of Disappearance", opening Friday, May 8 from 6-9pm.

The show features artists Schem Bader, Jubal Brown, and John Nobrega.

Seen here is a still from Nobrega's film "A Failed Seducer", which is one of two films showing alongside his recent Nunsploitation paintings.

From the press release: "Artist John Nobrega collides lust and disgust, the sacred and profane, in his work across video and painting that tunnel deeply into our comfortable past to resurrect new visions, many of them hallucinatory.

"The video “A Failed Seducer” (2:30') is a gem – transporting us to a glamorous, big city romantic era that proceeds to melt into dream-like horror. And yet a kiss is still a kiss.

"John’s notorious Nunsploitation series continues here with new oil on panel paintings. Devout women in the throes of joyful sorrow, cast and lit as silent film goddesses guilty perhaps of a delicious sin."

ALSO on opening night, Jubal Brown will launch his new book of drawings, "The Purpose of the Pictures", published by Tasman Richardson at Pseudonym Press. Signed editions will be available.

Come by and celebrate the artists and their work. DJ Cuthbert Steel will be providing the beats.

@schem_bader @jubalbrown @john.nobrega #theaestheticsofdisappearance #paulvirilio #societyofthespectacle #art #gallery #painting #drawing #film #video #installation #downtowntoronto #westend #pseudonympress @tasmanrichardson #curator #artcollector #artadvisor taken in 401 Richmond Street West by @john.nobrega

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5 months ago

Intolerance, 2026, 9x12, oil on panel by @john.nobrega

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5 months ago

An excerpt from an animated film I’ve been working on for the last few months, about life in a war-torn city. It seems relevant to post it now.

This was all hand drawn in Procreate Dreams, there is no AI.

#procreatedreams #animation #blackandwhite #war by @john.nobrega

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7 months ago