Results tagged “fauxreel”

             

At the Royal Ontario Museum, the portraits of homeless or formerly-homeless people holding signs with self-scrawled messages on them start outside the main entrance on Bloor Street, one large-scale man and large-scale woman standing back-to-back, dwarfed by the Crystal. They continue life-sized just inside, one young woman hiding above the main entrance, an older man further inside off to the right. In total, there are eighteen portraits wheatpasted at spots on the Crystal's bare walls, part of a series called "The Unaddressed" created by Dan Bergeron—fauxreel. Like his spectacular Regent Park portraits from last year, Bergeron's focus in "The Unaddressed" is on uprooted subjects, which is why it makes sense that the portraits themselves refuse to rest in only one location: all eighteen portraits, in addition to being safely contained on the ROM's property and walls, are also mirrored on walls across Toronto.

No victors were declared last night in the ongoing struggle between the street and the man, between high and popular culture, between the alleyway and the gallery. In a panel discussion on the evolving nature of street art, the only consensus was that more conversations—open-ended, open-minded, open-hearted—are required.

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

Just off West Queen West, around the corner from 48 Abell and the Drake Hotel, on the wall of a long blue warehouse complex that is supposed to come down shortly to make room for a condo, stands Mr. Loogie.

Fauxreel's pairing with Vespa to produce street art ads has always been contentious; as Carl Wilson pointed out in last month's Toronto Life, the intersection of street art and money-making is messy as hell. While one Toronto tagger took matters into their own hands to protest the corporate backing, and one Toronto book store threw their ad on top of Vespa's, others have participated in the discussion by literally changing the subject: a Montreal artist changed one ad to comment on Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz's relationship, and, near the corner of Peter and Richmond here in Toronto, someone got Barack Obama in on the action. (Reader Kat A captured it in May and sent it to us this week.) Good thing, too: street art—ad or not—isn't supposed to be static, and while the transformation may not be the perfect example of change we can believe in, it sure is change you can Xerox.

Once a week, Vandalist features the best street art and graffiti from around Toronto. You should contribute.

          

The wheatpaste of Fathima Fahmy was the first to go up just over a month ago. Two stories tall, it stands on the side of a newly-vacant apartment building slated for demolition in the heart of Regent Park. Since then, ten other larger-than-life portraits of other residents like her—those living in the fleet of low-rise buildings that are to be torn down and built on top of as part of Toronto Community Housing's $1 billion Regent Park Revitalization project—have been installed, all eleven of them photographed, constructed, and put up by Dan Bergeron (Fauxreel).

       

One of the greatest and most frustrating things about street art is that its lifespan is inherently finite. Especially in high-traffic areas, no piece is permanent, static, or safe. Take the wall on Queen Street West just out from below the railway and just west of Gladstone. Kevin Steele, who has spent much time documenting Queen Street West (his beautiful stitched-together photos of the block of buildings that burned down earlier this year remain the best portrait of the stretch) has paid close attention to that one span of concrete, taking photos of it regularly over the past year. His photos show how one wall constantly changes—continually added to by a fleet of artists, painted over entirely to erase all trace of them, then added to again.

Street artist and former Torontoist contributor Fauxreel (which, contrary to what The Globe and Mail says, is not his real name; it's Dan Bergeron) received both a considerable amount of disdain and a considerable amount of cash recently (as well as some praise), when he designed and helped execute a nationwide corporate vandalism campaign on behalf of a well-known motorized vehicle brand. At the time, Torontoist attempted to contact "Mr. Reel" (as the Globe called him on second reference), for his side of the story, but he declined a request for a public interview. Which was too bad, because we really were very interested to hear his rationalization for his involvement.

If you're up for a little subversion on Thursday night from 5–7 p.m., check out our old pal Fauxreel's talk, Resistance in the City, at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at U of T (7 Hart House Circle). Done in association with Signals in the Dark: Art in Shadow of War, an exhibition opening that evening, Fauxreel will "talk about his work as a street artist and give a mini-demo/workshop on techniques and tactics for transforming mass media into a critique of itself."

This time last year, he was wishing us Merry Christmess from Zanta, and now former Torontoist staffer/billboard modification specialist Fauxreel is selling prints! While we naturally dig all his billboard work, there's something about the shot of the dead bird above that's just gorgeous, and––like all of his work––one hell of a conversation piece. Shots of all the prints that are for sale are after the fold, and Fauxreel's also giving one lucky Torontoist...

As we mentioned in our Nuit Blanche photo album, the culprit behind that "Quick Lobotomy" sign you may have seen at Queen West's Tri Service Centre is our very own fauxreel. Earlier this morning, he posted a video on YouTube of his exploits, featuring some of the messages that he received from outraged/intrigued Nuit Blanche participants. It's lobotoriffic!

This Thursday evening, some of Toronto's finest culture jammers will descend on the Rivoli (334 Queen Street West) for GlobalAware's take YOUR space!, an event that intends to "see how adbusts, culture jams, and reclaiming public space is indeed art in itself."

Spring is in the air. Can you feel the love? Apparently while in town this past weekend for a speaking engagement at The Learning Annex Real Estate and Wealth Expo, The Donald also found time to take his message to the streets. Apparently the beef with Rosie is finished and The Donald has developed a new affinity for this star of The View. What a big softie! Find more here, and see some more pics after the fold.

Click the image to see it bigger.

Adam Beck did it all. He was knighted, he founded the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario and he was a pimp. With the large statue of him in downtown Toronto that was recently adorned with some of his vintage jewelry, he must have had quite the stable of hoes.

Night time is the right time when you've got an inch to get up. Dundas West & Bloor. Check out the link for more.

Yesterday, we linked to an article on the National Post website written by our very own Joshua Errett. The online version failed to include these images that the print version had. Boo to high gas prices, boo-yah to hijacking billboards! Ah, the sweet smell of wheat paste.