About

About Ben Navaee Gallery

1107 Queen Street East
Toronto, ON M4M 1K7
416-999-1030
Hours: 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (call us to book an appointment)

Our mandate

1. Presenting original, affordable, contemporary art.

2. Raising awareness and funds to help with different issues like poverty, homelessness, disease, devastation of the forces of nature, injustices of the world, or any other problems and challenges facing human beings

 

About Toronto East Community Arts Program

How do we begin to tackle all the injustices of the world when the problems and challenges facing many of our citizens seem so overwhelming? Poverty, homelessness, disease, the devastation of the forces of nature- what can we possibly contribute that will have a substantial and positive impact on our fellow human beings and to remedy the situations in which many find themselves? The answer lies in our ability to do what we can within the limitations of our skills, talents, finances, personal abilities and, sometimes, even within our inabilities. One thing is for certain, the mind and our capacity to hope and dream recognizes no boundaries or limitations. What we can conceive, we truly can achieve. In fact, I will go one step further and confide that what we can conceive – through the strength of our will, meditation, connecting to our spirit and compassion – we can truly manifest. We are capable and free to think as large or small as we feel compelled. The universe is filled with amazing energy and beautiful secrets that we merely need to open our minds toward and to allow to enter our souls in order to unleash their powers and find solutions. Being receptive to knowledge, to allow ourselves to become educated on critical issues and, in turn, sharing that knowledge with others gives us power and is ultimately the most rewarding experience that life has to offer.

About Ben Navaee

Ben Navaee Gallery has been relocated from 29 Bellair St. in Yorkville, to the beautiful gallery at 1111 Queen St. East in 2006; In July 2011, moved from 1111 to 1107 Queen St. East. The new place is also flooded with natural light and is in the heart of Toronto’s film District / Leslieville. The gallery is run by Ben Navaee who is a musician, photographer, painter and a certified yoga instructor- specialized in relaxation / meditation. His painting style’s known as Ārām art. Ārām in Sanskrit means quiet, calm, and taking rest. Ārām art is a mellow and non – expressionistic view of life’s phenomena, with immaterial soothing subjects that make the body quiet and peaceful, the mind, calm and relaxed, the spirit, gentle and serene. Ārām art promotes positive emotions for an easy and mindful living.

Ben Navaee first studied (double major) civil engineering and theory and composition of classical music in Omaha, Nebraska and practiced many years as a civil engineer specialized in concrete structures and technology. In 1995 he turned to computers and studied in Colonge, Germany, computer networking and communications with Novell Certified Engineer designation and worked 5 years in that field. He quit his last job as a senior engineer in Silican Valley, and started studing art in Berkeley, California. He did not go for a degree, just took all the courses that he thought would be helpful to start life as a professional painter. He had practiced art since he was a teenager.
With photography at first, he did not have much success, he had started learning photography on his own, in a dark room set up in a large closet at home, and eventually frostrated that he could not get what he wanted, gave it up and stuck to his painting. It was late 90s that he got his first digital camera and got back to photography again. Knowing the basics, he could soon get what he wanted and made up for the frostrating times of his dark room. Presently he is focusing on natural light / studio portrait photography.

In August 2003 he started teaching art and yoga / meditation free of charge to the public. In 2006 he registered Toronto East Community Arts Program- TECAP with the mandate of offering free art eductaiton to the community. in 2009 TECAP was registered as a charitable organization. TECAP community believes that
“free education is a basic human right”.

Ben Navaee est un peintre et un instructeur de yoga agréé, avec spécialisation en relaxation et méditation. Son modèle de peinture est connu comme art de Ārām.
Ārām, dans Sanskrit, signifie la tranquillité, le calme, et « prendre du repos ». L’art Ārām témoigne de la douceur et est un phénomène non expressionniste de la vie, avec des thèmes calmants qui amènent le corps vers la tranquillité et la paix, qui rend l’esprit calme et détendu, doux et serein. L’art Ārām favorise les émotions positives qui rend la vie plus facile et un esprit plus ouvert.
Ben Navaee est un peintre et un instructeur de yoga agréé, avec spécialisation en relaxation et méditation. Son modèle de peinture est connu comme art de Ārām.
Ārām, dans Sanskrit, signifie la tranquillité, le calme, et « prendre du repos ». L’art Ārām témoigne de la douceur et est un phénomène non expressionniste de la vie, avec des thèmes calmants qui amènent le corps vers la tranquillité et la paix, qui rend l’esprit calme et détendu, doux et serein. L’art Ārām favorise les émotions positives qui rend la vie plus facile et un esprit plus ouvert.