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Another New Banksy? Get Reel
Photo by Nick Kozak/Torontoist.
Since we published a set of seven new street art pieces we believe were done by Banksy, we’ve gotten a few emails about another piece on Adelaide Street West between John and Simcoe streets. The piece, we heard—and tried to see, through grainy cellphone-shot photos—starred a (fake) plumber working hard on (real) pipes with a (fake) wrench. The piece does exists, and it is clever. It’s just not a Banksy.
Rather, the plumber is the work of Dan Bergeron—Fauxreel—whose wheatpastes have been dotting the city for years now. (His stunning Regent Park portraits remain among our favourite pieces ever, anywhere.) The style’s unmistakeably his: the piece is all-gray (check), wheatpasted rather than spray-painted (check), and features a life-size person (check) interacting with the physical environment around where they were installed (check). Bergeron confirmed to Torontoist on Monday night that the work is his; it went up a few weeks ago. Some consolation, then, for locals who thought they found a new Banksy—Toronto’s got a few good artists of our own.
Thanks to Lee Chapman, Colleen Arsenault, Arianna Rath, Ray Lam, and everyone else who sent this to us.