Zion, Jeff Melanson, Rob Sysak, and Michael Thompson sit on a discussion panel at Tuesday graffiti summit at the Drake Underground. Photo by Corbin Smith/Torontoist. “Enforcement is not the solution, I can tell you today,” Jim Hart, executive director of Toronto’s Municipal Licensing and Standards division, told a roomful of people who’d gathered in the [...]

Rastia’ta’non:ha stands on the site of the mounds that he and his group claim are burial grounds. Rastia’ta’non:ha, a soft-spoken man with a head of dark black hair, wears a multicoloured tunic-like shirt that trails ribbons, and he carries a walking stick. He’s not a particularly imposing person, but when a handful of kids using [...]

You know how it’s sometimes awkward when one person in a group is way more into something than everyone else? Like, there’s a certain expected level of enthusiasm and one guy completely overshoots it—wears full padding to a pickup football game, say, or brings an RPG to target practice? That’s kind of what Rob Ford’s [...]

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. BY:   Artist unknown LOCATION:   Gerrard and Elizabeth SHOT BY:   Tahouse FIELD NOTES:   Someone has been actively painting balloons around downtown Toronto: maybe not 99 yet, but many indeed. These balloons are [...]

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. BY:   Artist unknown LOCATION:   West Railpath, south of Bloor Street SHOT BY:   Martin Reis FIELD NOTES:   Here we have someone who doesn’t seem to have a problem with the loose attitude [...]

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. BY:   Gregory Alan Elliott LOCATION:   At Baldwin and Spadina SHOT BY:   Sopwith FIELD NOTES:   One of downtown Toronto’s more visible and prolific street artists, Gregory Alan Elliott is not your average [...]

In May, in London, England, Andrew Mackenzie Hull died in a bike accident. In November, he came back to Toronto. Stretching across the city, from Queen and Beaconsfield to Spadina and Bloor to the Leslie Street Spit, are one thousand identical posters of Hull—black ink on white paper, a life-sized portrait drawn and shaded by [...]

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.

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. BY:   Unknown Artist/Camomile Hixon LOCATION:   At Queen and Claremont SHOT BY:   Sopwith FIELD NOTES:   A missing unicorn! “Lost Pet” posters are an old classic, and Camomile Hixon’s posters are an adorable [...]

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. BY:   Unknown Artist LOCATION:   Near Baldwin & Augusta SHOT BY:   Staed FIELD NOTES:   Ah, the raccoon. The masked bandit of the urban animals. Smarter than the rat, more charming and cuddly-looking [...]

Once a week, Vandalist features some of the most interesting street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute. BY:   Unknown Artist LOCATION:   Near Nassau & Augusta SHOT BY:   Sopwith FIELD NOTES:   Swooping down from the Kensington rooftops is Snoopy—World War One Flying Ace. It’s a little sad to think [...]