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10 Comments

news

The Revolution Begins on Queen Street West?

By Ron Nurwisah, Boy Reporter

2006_4_26mao.jpg
A Torontoist reader passed this photo of Mao on a Queen Street West transit shelter on to us. He writes on his flickr site:

On first glance, I thought this was an ad. But on closer inspection, realized someone had removed the Viacom ad, painted this Mao on the back of it, and carefully inserted it back into the transit shelter. Interesting subversive commentary on the commodification of the Queen West West area.

The work doesn’t look like its part of Contact (last year the festival showed work by ex-Talking Head David Byrne) but it seems like it’s in the same vein as the TPSC’s Art Attack project.

Comments

  • Gary

    Wow, Mao has aged since I last saw his portrait.

  • Oat Globe

    What a bold stroke. Yawn.

  • dave

    Instead of ads we get mass murderers?

  • http://www.spacing.ca/wire Shawn Micallef

    I’d rather have a Nike ad then Mao.

  • Michael

    “Interesting subversive commentary on the commodification of the Queen West West area” I think that’s a bit of a stretch. The comment is obviously about the commonality between the tennets of Catholicism and the dogma of Maoist Communism. Duh.

  • http://www.jillmurray.com jill

    Doh! I have a picture of that. I just didn’t get around to posting it yet. Mine’s different. It’s at night, so it’s lit from behind and you can see the word “Truth” peeking through backwards because it’s painted on the reverse of a “truth in advertising” ad. So then what does it mean?
    But that thing’s been replaced by WestSide lofts ads on both sides now.
    photo to follow, maybe, someday.

  • http://www.spacing.ca/wire Shawn Micallef

    If W condo’s root out people who put up big pictures of Mao, I say more W Condos. Higher, fatter and heavier … to make sure there isn’t room for first year marxism students who have fantasy’s about genocidal dictators.

  • http://www.newmindspace.com kevin bracken

    seems as likely a place as any for the revolution to begin :)

  • mongo

    the people control the means of reproduction

  • xoro

    I liked it. Well done, it jolted me from the everyday. My question is what is with the anger on this post. its street art or do you want more advertising.Bunch of Americans.
    Xoro hanging out in Toronto, Ontario, U.S.A