Over the span of just a few years I have watched as street art went from questionable legality to mainstream; now it’s jumped to very trendy. From vilified to Yorkvillified?
below: This large mural was created by Kazakhstan born, Montreal-based, Ola Volo.
below: Close up of part of the mural by Whatisadam
below: Mathieu Bories, also known as Mateo, works on the woman’s blue and yellow head scarf.
below: This OK is coming unstuck, peeling off the wall. This mural was painted by Ben Johnston whose work often features text that looks 3D
below: This staircase, with artwork by Getso, is going to turn into a instagram hotspot. Her shoes may be famous already! Actually, I took a quick look through a few possible hastags while writing this post but so far there haven’t been too many images of people posing here.
below: Across the back wall, above the upper level, is a long mural by Mr. Brainwash that is supposed to look like a wall of graffiti
below: Up on the scaffolding working on Mickey Mouse and his orange ears, is Xray aka Brian Lanier.
below: I think that it says love, a mural by Peru143
below: The streaks and splotches of colour are part of the wall that was painted by Risk. It is also the space surrounding the entrance to the Taglialatella Gallery. It was this gallery, along with INK Entertainment, that brought together the artists to paint the murals and many of them have pieces for sale in the gallery. I appreciate that the gallery is supporting street art and that artists can make money from their work but there is a heavy presence of commercialism around this enclave of murals that makes me uncomfortable.
Yes… just what I was writing about in my The Street, The Beat post – how what starts in the street is eventually adopted/adapted & taken up-market — from dance styles to hair styles to art to clothing…