A selection of shots taken in Graffiti Alley Toronto at the beginning of May. Please use this guest pass to see the rest of the set. I spent about ten minutes taking pictures with my friend Mike in an alley off of Queen Street while my sister perused a yarn shop nearby. There are over fifty shots in the set. 🙂
On Tuesday afternoon, sometime between my arrival home after work and departure a few hours later for a movie, the weather took a decisive turn into autumn. There was rain, gale-force winds and the kind of penetrating damp that seems to cut through every layer of clothing straight to the bones. Today I am wishing that it rained butterflies, as illustrated in the above photo taken of Toronto graffiti. Wouldn’t that be pretty?
I took these photos last summer while in Toronto on a graffiti walk with local flickrite Wacky Doodler. I didn’t realize at the time that this funny little character, named Lepos, is part of an international street art campaign. There have also been sightings of him in New York, Los Angeles, Stockholm, and Prague. There is an amusing article from the Wooster collective on How to plan a viral marketing campaign” using the Lepos street art as an example.
The following text is taken from the You Are Beautiful website:
“You Are Beautiful is a simple, powerful statement which is incorporated into the over absorption of mass media and lifestyles that are wrapped in consumer culture.”
“This statement and the context in which someone finds it gives meaning to its message and purpose to this project.
The intention behind this project is to reach beyond ourselves as individuals to make a difference by creating moments of positive self realization in those who happen across the statement: You Are Beautiful.”
“Intention is the most important aspect of the You Are Beautiful project in its idea of purity. Graffiti and street art are an act not a style, but stylistically large corporations have been copying and using the ‘urban decay’ look to sell products.”
“It all comes down to intention. Nothing is sacred. Everything that has a perceived value becomes commodified. Companies hire out teenagers to slap up stickers and posters, and pay their fines when they are caught by the police. This is not street art, but a marketing campaign.”
“The reasons why street artists are doing what they are doing, in the way that they are doing, is not simply to question their surroundings; but to provide alternative perspectives, meanings, or values to those of consumerism.”
“Advertising elicits a response to buy, where this project elicits a response to do something. The attempt with You Are Beautiful is to create activism instead of consumerism.”
“You Are Beautiful uses the medium of advertising and commercialization to spread a positive message. Projects like these make a difference in the world by catching us in the midst of daily life and creating moments of positive self realization.”
I very much like the idea of this project. The message is simple, yet powerful, and couldn’t everyone hear those three little words said to them…?
One of the ongoing photographic projects I’ve undertaken since moving to Vancouver is the documentation of local street artist’s work. I try to keep an eye out when wandering the city and photograph new paste-ups or stencils as soon as I see them because due to the weather and strict anti-graffiti laws, very few pieces stay around for long. I’ve always had an interest in Graffiti but not to the same degree until now because the Vancouver scene distinguishes itself with interesting styles and distinctive work. Some may consider this sort of thing vandalism but I like the idea of bringing art to the street, because it adds a more interesting aspect to the visual landscape of the city and takes art out of the safe and typical environment of a gallery.
Street art is defined as any art developed in a public space, and can include traditional aerosol paint graffiti work, but encompasses many other media and techniques such as wheat pasting, stickers, and stencil graffiti.
This week two gallery shows will begin after the cross country moving service gets all of the art here! Vancouver street artists. “Plumage” opens at Midtown (438 Pender St.) on Friday January 27th at 8pm, and on Saturday “Faces of Basco” opens at Les Gallery (1879 Powell St.) at 7pm.