We Kill You (and you'll like it)

Ok, for a moment, let's forget that "The Banksy Effect" has come to refer to the inflated market value of salable street art. And to eschew the oxymoron of consumable street art, I will hereby refer to it as urban art (because people just get so itchy about the term lowbrow).
The Banksy Effect, to most artists, refers to a jumping off point - the time in their life when they discovered other venues for their artwork. Consequently, the streets became a rather novel place to put them up.
Cue the droves of artists that packed their bags full of posters, stickers, cans, bottles of wheat paste and a few Krinks, and you have the other side of the Banksy Effect. Now, let's reel this in to its effects on Toronto and among these droves, we find a young guy who goes by the handle, We Kill You.
Subtle by no means, he's been around for several years now, decorating your urban space and making a teensy resin toy army behind your backs. Now he wants to kill you take your money.

Justin Pape, the artist behind We Kill You opened his current show, "I Lose Track of My Mind Sometimes" last night at Gordon Daniel Gallery.
In effect were some of Justin's typical pieces. Portraits on broken skate decks, part of his "The greatest humans ever invented..." stream. Check. Hand-moulded resin toy monsters of all shapes and colours. Check. Murals on the gallery walls. Check. It was all there, and more. Justin has honed some solid talent with a variety of materials, which is refreshing. I can't help but project from there, all of the future possibilities for his work. Will he branch into film like Thomas Campbell and Alex Pardee or will he refine his toy fetish to the heights of Tristan Eaton? I like catching fresh talents at their beginnings just to see this sort of progress in action.

Gordon Daniel Gallery is a tight squeeze of a multi-room space. And it fills up fast so bonus points go to those who arrived in time for unobstructed views of the show. Its fair points are that the nooks and crannies work for a show like this, where you expect a few surprises lurking around the corners. And though I didn't witness any sales on-site (receptions aren't generally the best selling platform, unless you're prying drunk wallets with an open bar) the pieces are all priced to sell. So, to all involved: dust off your hands and pat yourselves on the back. Shepard Fairey wont be moving over any time soon but it's nice to know that urban art has a fighting chance in this city.

"I Lose Track of My Mind Sometimes" by We Kill You runs until April 28th, at the Gordon Daniel Gallery (460 Parliament Street, in the heart of Cabbagetown).

Lead in image by Arkan Zakharov

Published: blogTO

Chasing Abel: A Media Prankster Dupes Toronto

My first post on blogTO was an open-ended pondering about the mysterious Toronto Graffiti Art Museum, apparently founded by the patriarch of the agit-art movement, Ron English. Learning of this proposed establishment before moving to Toronto gave me pangs of hope that maybe my future home had progressed beyond my expectations. But after a few months of waiting, the mecca of street art at the back of my mind, the whole thing really started to stink a little. So, when Ron visited my former stomping grounds of World's End Studio (home of Stupid Krap) in Sydney, Australia, I had to make some connections.

The scoop from down under: the whole thing was actually the work of media prankster, Alan Abel. When contacted, Alan immediately acknowledged his involvement and agreed to answer some quick questions about the stunt which apparently was a reaction to Toronto's steps (read: Graffiti Abatement Program) to eradicate graffiti.

"With the city of Toronto alarmed about the graffiti problem, it seemed timely to satirize the situation by claiming to establish a Graffiti Museum downtown to perpetuate this medium of free expression. The purpose was to promote the subsequent screenings of "Abel Raises Cain" and "Is There Sex After Death?" at the Bloor Cinema in December 2008."

Abel Raises Cain is a perspective into Alan's bizarre career and life as told by his daughter, Jenny Abel and co-director, Jeff Hockett. In case you're interested, Toronto-based company, FilmsWeLike currently owns the DVD distribution rights for all of Canada.

As for Ron English's involvement, it seems more of a token use of the street artist's reputation. "I've known Ron for a number of years, having met him at film festivals. We are kindred souls of course," Abel reveals.

A few years ago, Ron was also touring and screening his own cinematic nugget, POPaganda: The Art & Crimes of Ron English. The two are also both under the Evil Twin Booking Agency and have been billed together for Gelf Magazine's Non-Motivational Speakers Series when they focused on culture-jammers and pranksters.

"I've taught in schools early in life; but I always wanted a larger audience than the classroom. Like the whole world. So my first campaign to clothe all animals for the sake of decency was so successful, I decided to make harmless deception with pranks as a lifestyle. It's still working for me. I get to write quirky but believable campaigns and perform them on the world stage, using the media as a conduit to my audience, the public. In fact, the Internet is now a catapult to the entire world! And I've had a grand hoax on the Internet, and in the press, for the past ten months without discovery so far. It involves animals and sex, creating both amusement and anger."

So, Ron English is really not moving to Toronto, he's not buying any downtown properties to establish a work/live space for street artists and Alan has managed to push his message through the media (I feel a little used but not too dirty because he's really a super cool guy). But at least it's case closed for the "Toronto Graffiti Art Museum". All that's left to do now is silently lament about what could have been.

Published: blogTO

Talking (Not Tackling) Street Art

What is the definition of vandalism with regard to street art and graffiti? What is the municipal policy and possible penalties for street artists? As street artists become more enmeshed with the art world, how do they maintain their street credibility? How is street art different from tagging and vandalism? Is street art simply a short cut into the art establishment?

These important questions were the full nelsons of the Wednesday night throw down I attended - between artists and establishment at the ROM's Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre as part of their current exhibition, Housepaint.

Adam Vaughn (Councillor, City of Toronto), Dan Bergeron (aka fauxreel), David Liss (artistic director, MOCCA) and Devon Ostrom (curator, Housepaint) faced off on the above questions in an attempt to shed light, not on the answers but on the perspectives that make them so unanswerable. In truth, I was glad to see that those who went to see the hate being flung between "high" and "low" class had to wait through a lot of the civilized logic being traded on stage. A testament to the character of the panelists, each seemed resigned that divisions of institutional versus street art - namely, those imposed by notions of class (as pointed out by David Liss) - run deep but are still worthy of measured debate.

Though they addressed policies, processes and social aspects of street art, the conversation often returned to the very nature of street art. One of the most evident fault lines of discussion, during Talking Street Art was the perception that street art is a culmination of graffiti, hip hop culture, dissenting youth and poverty.

Given some time to reflect after the panel, Devon Ostrom reiterates a point from the Housepaint exhibition statement: Street art is often associated with graffiti. In fact, since the earliest cave dwellers, people have been drawing in places where they forgot to ask permission first. Hip-hop culture took this tendency and gave the form a massive boost in innovation, technical skill, and style. Almost overnight, bathroom scribbles took a giant leap in evolution, vibrantly turning New York City's subway cars into giant rolling art galleries. "My point being credit is owed, but hip-hop graffiti was not the start of drawing on things."

The current popularization of street art and it's inception to the mainstream had the panel agreeing on the shift in ideologies and practice of individual artists, some of whom have made the leap into gallery and commercial space. For the artists, one of the more important shifts came in the form of civil leniency toward artists who stick to the street. "In some ways the city has actually made a lot of progress in how graffiti and street artists are dealt with," says Devon. "Not too long ago it was not uncommon for artists to be beaten, let alone fined. I personally have a friend who was beaten to the point of internal bleeding by the police. Actually participation in institutional shows can be great for getting artists out of court. Most Judges are well educated and love good art."

Administering the panel was Francisco Alvarez, the Managing Director of the Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the ROM, "It went very well, with a good variety of perspectives represented. In particular, it was interesting to hear from City Councillor Adam Vaughn how the City is attempting to deal with graffiti while still viewing artistic mural painting as a positive force. Clearly, we did not arrive at a definite answer, it's like asking "what is art?", a question that has been debated endlessly."

Francisco culled the discussion topics from ICC members and the panelists themselves. "Three main themes emerged: Street art and the Municipality, Street art and the mainstream art world, How street artists have evolved since the original of graffiti."

I'm rather amazed and think that it's incredible that Housepaint is really the first exhibition by a major Canadian museum to address street art and it's surrounding issues. An art form that has been developed for decades - and centuries, when considering Devon's earlier sentiments - and practiced world wide. Francisco explains that Housepaint presented the ICC with an opportunity to bridge solid context with innovation. "Our mandate is to present exhibitions and programs that examine cultural, social and/or political issues in societies around the world. In this case, we look at homelessness and poverty through the lens of socially-concerned street artists."

The panel talk was one of the many layers of this ode to street art, including the Housepaint at Tent City - Phase 1 Hug Me Tree installation by Elicser Elliot, the screenings of BOMB IT and NEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting (my particular favourite).

Published on: blogTO