GRAFFITI: “Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don’t come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they’re having a piss.” Banksy, the originator of that quote, knows the importance of art to public space—but do we? [...]

LECTURE: Some commentary by Banksy has been making the social media rounds in Toronto of late, proving that the artist is still a subject of fascination two years after he left his mark on our city. Walrus fiction editor Nick Mount, who wrote about Banksy’s appearance here at the time, will be giving a hotly [...]

The premise of graffiti art is that it’s not supposed to be there. Its appeal comes from being unsolicited and out of place, which is what makes the art form, at times, so unexpectedly beautiful. It’s also what makes graffiti, by definition, illegal. Toronto’s graffiti bylaw [PDF] defines the illegal art form exactly in these [...]

Photo by dan cronin.jpg from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. It’s a strange time for Toronto graffiti. On the one hand we’ve got as many cop crackdowns on street art as ever; on the other, we’re still moved to collectively soil ourselves with giddiness when the most famous graffiti artist of them all visits our town. [...]

It's not that Toronto doesn't have any number of great street artists; it does, and this year was an especially big one for them. There was a massive and unprecedented street advertising takeover that saw the ads inside dozens of Pattison ad pillars swapped out for art. The Urban Repair Squad stayed busy with interventions on cyclists' behalf, from onomatopoeias painted alongside bumps in the road to bike symbols and sharrows where there weren't any. Others played with geese and yarn and mattresses and Stephen Harper. Some just really hated Roncesvalles construction.

Fifty million friends, and a room full of local critics, can’t be wrong. The Social Network and star Jesse Eisenberg snag top honours at Toronto Film Critics Association awards. Still courtesy of Sony Pictures. This morning at 12:01 a.m., the Toronto Film Critics Association released the results of their 2010 awards (disclosure: author is a [...]

Urban Planner is Torontoist’s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to events@torontoist.com. The Roots take to the stage at Nathan Phillips Square as part of [...]

I’ve been loving the art of Banksy since around the time he tagged his first, now-iconic rat nine years ago. All online, sadly—in blogs, photo-sharing sites, web zines like the Wooster Collective. I haven't travelled much outside Canada: no money, then children, then no money again.

Urban Planner is Torontoist’s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to events@torontoist.com. Photo from 2008′s pillow fight at Nathan Philips Square by Miles Storey/Torontoist. YARD [...]