HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics STREET ART
The 2007 was by far my most exciting as well as one of the shortest in the five year experiment. Having the luck of a profitable Christmas, I passed the 06 -07 winter indoors working on the pages for HEY APATHY! Book One. At the time of the March holiday, which often started my spring performances, the weather remain vicious but I was content to remain inside until midway through May when the spring finally sprung. I dove right into my new large location across from the Silver Snail and started painting enormous murals at a previously unmatched pace. Every weekend of good weather I made 10 x 12 foot ink murals live on Queen Street West. The new drawings were the biggest of all my performances and could be created in as little as 3 hours. The new season, new location and new performances generated new success.
Weekend Performance Painting on Queen Street West
I had used the area out front of the Black Bull Pub across the street from the Silver Snail for about a month the previous winter. The location held many advantages including shade, space, and the inability for other artist to intrusions but I knew that there would be certain political grievances ahead if I was going to maintain the spot. First of all the location was often used by a seasoned professional who is famous in Toronto for his enormous chalk renderings. However I was aware that he’d primarily relocated to a busier corner in front of the Eaton Center. I hadn’t seen the Chalk artist on Queen for at least 8 months so I had little concern of offending his seniority. Oddly enough on one of my first days in the new spot I returned to my table to find a set of earplugs sitting mysteriously by my pens. I had already started wearing plugs on the street as a result of experience and had a strange inclination that the gift came from someone else who was aware of the noise. I instantly thought of the chalk artist, the only other person who could possibly know how noisy that corner is over the course of a day. Obviously this is purely speculation but I like to think that the ear plugs were a sort of permission or changing of the guard giving me the approval to occupy the space.
ATTACK OF THE CN TOWER! Ink Drawings from the streets 2007
Though I never actually encountered the chalk artist I did run into territorial problems with another vendor over the space. For the first few days of the spring a sculptor named John started to compete with me for the space. He would come over a start yelling but I’d argue with my licences which I could tell at a gaze that the apparently derelict sculptor did not possess. One morning he actually picked up my table and smashed over my head and shoulders while I was knelling down to unpack. In another instance I had plaster shattered all around me and my work. Eventually through much peaceful negotiation John and I resided to accommodate each other and share the large space. Some how we made friends and enjoyed a very peaceful comradeship though the space was not fully ideal for two. Fortunately as my business picked up John too had some good fortune selling several sculptures at gallery rates and he retired early giving me the whole space. Despite our vagrant introductions, I am still good friends with John-Paul who ultimately proved the old adage that you can’t tell a book by it’s cover.
Working on some small canvas' during he weekdays
By the second week of the good weather I was running a tight ship. No one else disturbed or distracted me and the show went on full force. The CN Tower turned into an eyeball and heroes fought endlessly with villains. The city was a gear and it was being spun by all kinds of people. During the week days I worked on small canvas’ which were selling from $300-500 and in high demand. On Saturday’s I would paint large performance murals gathering enormous crowds and painting up a frenzy. I addition to the Queen Street performances I also did 6 paintings at various P.S. Kensington Car free Festivals totalling 27,10-12 foot ink drawings for the duration of the season. One of these incredible feats was captured in a time lapse video by photographer Craig Boyko. Entitled 3.5 hours with Mike Parsons featured a 10 x 12 foot depiction of the city of gears created one Saturday afternoon out on Queen Street West.
Live Painting at Kensington Market Street Festival
Having worked as hard as I could and near perfecting my street art I retired for the year on the 1st of September. In a short 4 month season I’d actually talked to more people and sold more paintings than in all of my previous years combined. Instead of $10 sketches, I was selling paintings and my full line of merchandised comics, t-shirts, and prints were always running out of stock. My performances were becoming powerful as I attracted more and more onlookers and most importantly of all the summer weather was immaculate. At the end of August I booked an exhibition space for the first time in years, and retreated to the studio to develop 7 new pen and ink canvasses.
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