ALTERNATIVE COMICS Street Art Chronology Stories from 2005 part 1

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

Here's some more accounts of my experiences as a street artist, the last few days I wrote about 2004 so here my initial recollections from the second season which took place in Toronto through out 2005.

My second season working as a street artist proved unbelievably progressive as my artistic vision, technical skills and public performances were developing at a rapid pace. Although the drawings began in a similarly monstrous fashion as those from 04, by the end of the 2005 summer I had intuitively and entirely reinvented “HEY APATHY!” as a result of the public processes. I started making quick live performance artworks and engaging the audience in more and more parabolic conversations. The weather was perfect, the city was busy and working the streets became a full time gig. The reactions were easily tenfold those of my previous venture and soon thereafter many other artists started to join my crusade. As a result of the booming business and incomparable inspiration the size of my display, the intricacies of the illustrations and my ability to interact with viewers all drastically evolved.

The winter of 2004- 05 was probably one of the worst times of my meagre existence. I had rented a 5 x 8 foot room in the basement of a boarding house for something like $150 a month. I remember breaking the ceiling lamp with the top of my head on several occasions simply by standing upright in the mornings. I had managed to pre-sell a large body of ink drawings and was basically living off a small allowance divined out by the patron on a bi-weekly basis. This business arrangement kept me productive though I can no longer stand the sight of canned chilly or instant rice. Needless to say that as the spring of 2005 sprung I was anxious and excited to return to the streets. I wished desperately to reinitiate my experiment where I could stretch, breath, and create freely while generating a more steady income.

As enthusiastic as I’d been I could never have imagined the results my second season would unfold. Instantaneously I discovered success both in productivity and reaction as I started working on larger scale ink drawings sprawled out on the street. I remember those first days absolutely unlike any others as the sidewalk was crowded from the curb to the stores. The sun was blaring a peculiarly beautiful yellow as I weighted down some poster sized papers with bricks from the street. Before I even really knew what was happening I had incited a crowd and was talking about and selling drawings. I made more in sales on the first weekend of 2005 than I the whole season of 2004 and more importantly I had initiated a dialogue with the city. Monsters, Robots, and Exploding buildings were flying hot of the concrete at about $40 a piece. Of coarse even such small successes always come with a price as the sidewalks were soon cramped by other artists and the city by-law enforcers took notice… continued tomorrow

            see more of the 2005 drawings www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/street-art-comics-2005.html