Reasons to Love Toronto Now: because the city is our canvas
Reasons to Love Toronto Now: because the city is our canvas
Four years ago, Rob Ford and his heavies were power-washing graffiti (both artful and vandalistic) wherever they could find it. In the po-Fo era, city hall is actively embracing the stuff, commissioning dozens of underpass murals and alley paintings. This new graffiti gusto has unleashed a torrent of creativity among Toronto street artists, who are beautifying the city’s surfaces with cheeky, radiant works. Here, a tour of our 10 favourites.
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- In 2014, the city’s StreetARToronto initiative commissioned a series of underpass paintings by the <strong>Essencia Art Collective</strong>, including this piece near King and Sumach by <strong>Shalak Attack</strong>.
- (Image: Erin Leydon)
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- The city has commissioned street art for 56 of its traffic signal boxes. Artist<strong> Jeff Blackburn</strong> created “Rac on a Box,” at Spadina and Davenport, as a tribute to Toronto’s unofficial mascot.
- (Image: Erin Leydon)
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- Nicole D’Amario, Melissa Luk and Andrea Manica from the <strong>Buckteeth Girls Club</strong> created this mural on the side of Good for Her at Harbord and Croft. Fittingly, it’s all about female sexuality and empowerment.
- (Image: Erin Leydon)
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- Illustrator <strong>Iva Jericevic</strong> designed “Noodle Doodles” on a traffic signal box at the corner of Bay and Albert. The whimsical pasta hair was inspired by her time spent living in Bologna.
- (Image: Erin Leydon)
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- <strong>Aaron Li-Hill</strong>’s mural “Fractured Space” sits on Parkside Drive under the Queensway. He created the piece in 2013 as a comment on the city’s segregation from the waterfront.
- (Image: Erin Leydon)
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- This Parkdale piece by <strong>Wysper</strong> and <strong>the Doh Crew</strong> is a throwback to old-school graffiti style.
- (Image: Erin Leydon)
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- This is a detail from the 200-metre mural that runs along Bathurst between Davenport and St. Clair, which the city commissioned in 2013 from the Brooklyn collective <strong>Faile</strong>.
- (Image: Erin Leydon)
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- The French artist <strong>Nelio</strong> is often considered a member of the new wave “graffuturist” movement, which merges graffiti with high-art techniques. This piece in Kensington Market betrays his background in graphic design.
- (Image: Erin Leydon)
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- <strong>Logan Miller</strong> and <strong>Viviana Astudillo</strong> spray-painted “Falantitos” over five days in 2010. It’s located in an alley near St. Clair and Keele.
- (Image: Erin Leydon)
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- Artists <strong>Jamie Bradbury</strong> and <strong>Joshua Barndt</strong> worked with five apprentices to paint this 400-foot mural in the underpass at Dupont and Dundas West in 2009. It was a celebration of the then-new bike lanes on Dupont.
- (Image: Erin Leydon)
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![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/culture/reasons-to-love-toronto-now-2015-city-is-our-canvas/&title=Reasons to Love Toronto Now: because the city is our canvas&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/reasons-to-love-toronto-now-2015-city-is-our-canvas.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_317360" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Images: Erin Leydon)[/caption]
Four years ago, Rob Ford and his heavies were power-washing graffiti (both artful and vandalistic) wherever they could find it. In the po-Fo era, city hall is actively embracing the stuff, commissioning dozens of underpass murals and alley paintings. This new graffiti gusto has unleashed a torrent of creativity among Toronto street artists, who are beautifying the city’s surfaces with cheeky, radiant works. Here, a tour of our 10 favourites.
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