STREET ART Chronology 2005 Part 3

 HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics!

During my first season on the Queen West (2004) I was basically the only practising artist amidst a sea of artisans and jewellery vendors. However as a result of my success, exposure and personal recommendations the street soon filled with fine art. Painters, illustrators and photographers quickly joined the parade as Queen St. West became a hub of adventure and a happening spot for local exhibitors. On any given weekend as many as 20 artists set up shop all around me and the life force and energy was breaching unknown heights. At first the growth was exciting and I felt overwhelmed with creative inspiration yet as I mentioned before the exhilaration led to many difficult situations. The city by law enforcers took note of our activities and perpetually swept the streets clean. It was brought to our attention that our activities were illegal.

MONSTER COMICS street performance

Almost every Saturday morning the officers would come down and threaten us with tickets and seizure of our goods. To our benefit this quickly cleared out most of the jewellers and artisans as they hadn’t a leg to stand on as most of their products were not hand made. We often found ourselves packing up shop and hiding in local cafes until the City of Toronto trucks disappeared. As soon as the coast was cleared we would return to the streets and start up our productively creative activities once more. Eventually it got to the point were this would happen more than once in a day so we were forced to confront the police and attempt to stand our grounds. Fortunately this bold action was met with some leniency as the officer’s gave us instructions on probable means of gaining licences. This information led us to 112 Elizabeth Street, the former bureau for Torontonian Municipal licensing. The officers in that building attempted to turn us away but eventually granted us the same permits one uses to busk. Technically this prohibited the sale and display of our artworks allowing only for performances and the collection of donations. However having discussed the situation and followed their advice the particular enforcers working on Queen Street let these permits pass. For the rest of the season most of us operated semi-legally using the 25 dollar buskers license as a sign of respect. The by-law officers let the permits pass and we no longer felt intimidated and worked free from despair. Interestingly enough only a handful of artists actually acquired these permits yet the officers seldom checked in on the rest.

Having stumbled over one of the streets major hurdles the act of public exhibition became stress free but for me the problems had only begun. Now that we were legal a new war had begun as I found myself perpetually hounded by viscous completion. The reason I say viscous and not healthy or competitive is because several new street vendors started taking aim directly at me. The first such encounters were in regards to my spot. There are unwritten rules regarding ones set up location, however the truth be told the situation depends on somewhat of a first come first serve ideology. Midway through my second season performing I’d carved out a nice little spot for my self underneath a large tree. There was nothing particularly distinguishing about the location when compared with the other’s but like all a creatures of habit I’d taken to a liking to my concrete home. I was clearly the most successful artist on the block and by some strange psychology many other’s attributed my sales to the spot. On numerous occasions I’d arrive to find one of my “colleagues” set up under that tree. They mostly argued that the spot was the best though I as one of the few who had purchased the permit I generally had little trouble reclaiming my land. To avoid the aggravation I was forced to set up early each morning knowing full well that my competetors had aimed to steal my position, not only physically but in terms of recognition.

The situation elevated as those same artists, who I’d introduced to the practice, started imitating my artworks as well location. More and more black and white images started appearing on canvas’ once dawned with color and at least three other street vendors started drawing with hand made bamboo pens. I saw heads split in two with word bubbles citing “This keeps happening” right beside my exploding heads which spoke out phrases like “not again!”. I tried to ignore it but the situation reached new apexes and I was forced into confrontation right out in the streets. On one occasion I actually had to drag another artists paintings across the sidewalk were I put them beside mine and embarrassingly pointed out the exacting details of the compositions. In another instance I arrived extra early only to find one of the artist, formerly of color work, had spread a large sheet of white paper in my regular location and was drawing building with ink. This may all sound bizarre but I ended up confronting and obtaining confessions from numerous artists as well as collected samples of the imitated artworks which I've chosen not to include in any publications for various reasons including good taste.The entire situation became unbearably frustrating but through determination, perseverance and by waking up really early in the morning I finished the season successfully despite the absurd irritations.

Toronto Skyline Ink on Board Sept. 2005

All this frustration aside the majority of the work brought to the streets was fresh and unique. Many of the artist celebrated individual triumphs and impressed and contributed to the little carnival which continued to grow  into major attraction in the city of Toronto 2005. The entire ordeal both good and the bad pushed me in positive and innovative directions so that by the end of the summer I’d revised my display and expanded my drawing techniques. At the end of the season I stopped painting rapid live performance artworks and sat back to sum up my discoveries through a series of extremely detailed pen and ink studies. Had it not been for the copy-cats and criticisms I might not have been so determined to push the artwork in new directions. Between the Sept. and Oct. of 2005 I made 33 intricate illustrations which were reproduced as prints replacing all my small hand-drawn artworks included in my street art exhibitions. To this very day these drawings, which took as long as 150 hours, remain as some of my favourite artworks in the HEY APATHY! Collection.  (street art chronology continued tomorrow season three 2006)

The City Monster ink on board Sept. 2005

visit http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS A Street Art Chronology 5 years of Concrete

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics Street Art

Although most of my time these days is spent working on the Ontario Arts Council Animation I am still making a hobby out of   building  my website. Maybe a week ago now I posted some index pages regarding a chronological  account of my experiences and developments as a street artist. While I am still hitting the city on special occasions I am no longer working the sidewalks full-time and thought it would be a good idea to sum up that experiment which ran from 2004 until 2008. During those five seasons, including one entire winter, I exhibited and created my artworks live on Queen Street West,  downtown Toronto.  I met thousands of people and learned many weird things.  So in order to kill two creatures with one story,  my daily journals over the next few days will attempt to recollect, in an essay type format, all those unusual years I wasted working outdoors so I can breath life into my index pages  currently haunted by dead-links.  

STREET ART 2004 or HOW THE H--- Did I END UP HERE?

I first started experimenting with my monsters comics street art in the spring of 2004. At that time I had a small display of nihilistic ink scribbles depicting man as creepy creatures and images of war. During that first season I travelled around the city on a crazy little BMX with all of my equipment packed in a small tool kit. The experience was particular and extremely unusual as I started to mingle with the strange world of strangers i the streets. Although I’d still a long way to go, the presentations began inciting a unique exchange of discourse between myself and a diverse range of unsuspecting pedestrians. The inclusion of these then new public interventions was unconsciously inspired by a combination of artistic influences, personnel experiences with gallery dealers, a growing interest in the public forum and ultimately through a certain surreal and intuitive necessity.

 

As a younger student studying at the Ontario College of Art and Design I discovered the underground comic book works of Robert Crumb. I had been a long time fan of comics and as I grew out of adolescence had started leaning more towards alternative streams. In my second semester at the college I was scribbling out little horror stories using less and less preliminary drawings attempting to work directly with my refillable RAPIDOGRAPH pens. Sufficed to say as I delved deeper into academic studies my opinions towards the world were also growing bleaker by the article and work began taking on a more satirical edge. It was at this time, during an all night drawing session, that I happened across a bizarre documentary on TVO. Although telepathically familiar with the work as in is part of our collective uncommon knowledge, this was the first time I actually witnessed the world of R. Crumb. I felt as though I’d found a kindred spirit and was absolutely blown away by his psychedelic drawings and verse. I took particular interest in his ability to capture and document true to life occurrences primarily born of his experiences on the streets. Crumb had spent many years exhibiting his drawings as a street artist and this method struck me as a very important means of research. Although Crumbs public processes obviously affected and inspired me, it wasn’t until several years later that I found myself selling art on the streets. I did however stop working with preliminary sketches entirely after observing the masterful and instantaneous technique used by Mr. Crumb.

In openly citing Crumb as a major inspiration I do not mean to infer that I’d taken to any aspirations of following the footprints of most demented idol for in the years that followed I ended up on a very different oath. By January 2001 I had completely forsaken the practice of drawing comics in favour of developing large scale ink drawings intended for the gallery setting. For 3 years I worked exclusively with hand carved bamboo pens and black India ink, creating mural sized abstractions of metropolitan life. By the summer of 2003 I’d completed 2 major drawing installations both of which featured hundreds of artworks used to completely transform the gallery space These massive surreal landscapes gained me a lot of recognition from Torontonian collectors and dealers alike. I won several awards, was featured on the cover of NOW Magazine, and was making a decent living by my third year of art college. However as a result of this early success I encountered numerous strange obstacles and found myself perpetually exposed to distasteful events... to be continued tomorrow

 

 

Monster Comics Concrete Early 2005 ( I don't actually have any pictures from 2004 )

ALTERNATIVE COMICS STREET ART PAINTING PERFORMANCE

HEY APATHY! ALTERNATIVE COMICS STREET ART PERFORMANCE

HEY APATHY! The City is a giant gear propelled by all the different and crazy people moving through it. In order to investigate the monstrous metropolis and it's diverse and absurd denizens, I started setting up large black and white street art displays in downtown Toronto. By exhibiting and experimenting in public, I was able to learn many things about architecture and others having talked to thousands of people from all over the world and of all walks of life.  This video is a time lapse documentation of a typical day in my life on the streets. The 10 x 12 foot ink mural features an iconographic City of Gears and was made in 3.5 hours. Time lapse Photographed by Craig Boyko. 

Close-up of finished CITY of GEARS street mural. During the busy and seasonable summer weather, I often would often set up on the concrete and get to work. In 2007 I made 27 of these giant performance drawings but have since been spending more time on comics and animations.

See more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

Street Painting, Sunny Days, and Alternative Comics!

ALTERNATIVE COMICS in the STREETS! HEY APATHY! The sun is shining and the temperature is rising, and soon it will be time to hit the streets again! A major part of my monster comics and art is the inclusion of my unique brand of street intervention. Each spring and summer I pack up my gear and head out to the public walkways to display, discuss, and create my artworks in front of and interacting with the general public. This aspect of my artist's process has proven invaluably influencial and entirely particular in the development of my visual vocabulary. Improvising all my creations on site allows me to experience the people and the metropolis in a manner unparalleled by the studio environment. On the street things actually happen, I derive imagery and story-telling from the strange and unpredictable occurences offered by the pedestrian and commuter traffic. For example some one might approach me and engage in dialogue concerning their own life and times or the latest newsand the exchange becomes a muse sending me off in new directions otherwise unimaginable. As the only professional street artist in the entire city of Toronto, these moments of inspiration permit me to express and examine not only my personal concerns and interests but those of the community and even the globe. Monday mornings are notoriuos for attracting tourists to Queen St. West as no one who actually lives here ever wakes up before eleven. For the better part of the past six years I have worked full-time on the sidewalk and gathered an unbelievable wealth of information regarding the lives, motivations, and goals of others. This year I won't be working the streets on a regular basis, but will still be performing at numerous outdoor and comic book festivals as the time has now come for me to combine and  document the extensive research accumulated over the years. I will certainly be performing some more public interventions ( as I miss it dearly and can almost taste the reflecting sunshine on the concret) but will be more selective and reserved in my presentations, simply because it is really difficult to produce sustained artworks, such as comic pages, out doors. Enjoy this beautiful day Toronto and any where else it might be sunny right now!  

LIFE of An ARTIST STREET MURALS

Kensington Market Street Art

HEY APATHY! I spent almost the entire day working on-line. The fiasco which has become my life (as an artist) was enveloped by resizing and uploading images since 8 am this morn. I have been trying to apply online for the 2010 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition for a couple of days now. Unfortunetly I had to wait until yesterday to get in contact with a staff member because we just had a long weekend here in Canada. Nevertheless the crew over at 401 Richmond running the T.O.A.E. is incredible and all my queries were answered first thing following the holiday lay off. So I proceeded to prepare my slide list and support materials only to discover late last night that I did it all wrong and my images turned out to be way to small.(Oh there is never a dull moment in the life of an artist.)Following my uploaded defeat, I gave up on the application and worked on some sketches for the remainder of day.

Today, however, was a new day! I completed the resizing and uploading in record time without a single glitch and I suppose I got into it and carried away. I just kept uploading and resizing and uploading and resizing and only a few moments ago ( it is now 14 hours since I started) came to a standstill having completed about 5 new pages for my website. I am building the damn thing myself so don't expect too much on the technical side but I think the curation of my madness could not have been handled by any one else. Check out my updated MURALS page at www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/MURALS.html . I uploaded all the image and text links today so there a new galleries within the gallery. I'll try to get the essays explaining the significance of each mural on there tomorrow but for now I am very,very tired.

Toronto Garage Mural Acrylic on Brick 2007

CANADIAN ART, THEATRE & LIVE PERFORMANCE!

HEY APATHY! Here are the first pics in my "life of an artist" blog. I've got two little amateur press publications going on in here. The first, which I haven't updated in a while, is my "ONLINECOMICBOOK" journal. That title is dedicated to a behind the scenes or directors commentary if you please, of all my comic book experimentation's. That blog is only going to list the HEY APATHY! comic book pages, revealing the motivations, inspirations, and secret codes behind the sequential artworks regarding the city of gears. I'm posting all my comics chronologically starting with some strange stories from 1999 on twitter and am using the blog to attempt to justify myself (my imaginary psychiatrist's orders...) The online comic also includes new autobiographical pages in order to contextualize and tie all the short adventures together. The last posting was in June 2009, but I am going to start up again full-force next week. The last eight months or so were spent trapped inside a computer in a near futile attempt to create a build-you-own style website. Now that the site is reasonably complete I can actually get back to work on the mythos. check out the first volume on my website.

This new diary is going to document all the other aspects of my artistic endeavors. Not only do I create comic books, but I am actually an active investigator, performer, fine artist ( whatever that is) and amateur musician. In this blog I am going to try and document the 3 dimensional aspects of my life as a Canadian Artist. Not to say that anything I do is actually interesting or even of the slightest importance, I just enjoy writing and figure the more I practice the better I'll get. This author/auteur aspiration actually started out on the streets where I discovered that the explanation of my work seemed to effect the audience equal to and often more than the visuals or drawings themselves. I am now attempting to translate the spoken word aspect of my performances into paragraph form on the new website/graphic novel and have come to realize that it is no easy task. Anyways bare with me as I attempt to replace my ers, ands, ands ums, with subsequently, incongruously, and quite possibly a number of of other sagacious verbal abnormalities.

LIVE PAINTING & THEATRE at the PASSE MURAILLE

Here's some pics of me painting at the PASSE MURAILLE live theatre for the performing arts this past Tuesday Feb. 9/2010. The theatre had a cocktail party, silent auction and live dance/play performance fundraiser in which I was asked to perform and donate my artwork in support of the amazing venue. I was set up in the main lobby and got to work on this little cartoon landscape around 6:30. The entire painting was finished in just under an hour and auctioned off to a patron named Jane after a modest but fruitful bidding war. I had actually met Jane a few years back while painting out in the wild (Queen Street West) and instantly recognized her. Jane was very excited to have found me and said she had been looking for me on the streets but feared she would never see me again. I'm glad the painting got a loving home.

Almost Finished! The auction, and painting was from 6:30-7:30

The amazing thing about doing these performance artworks is the fact that I actually get to interact with people, sharing opinions and ideas in a manner unobtainable in the studio or gallery setting. I always find that although many people could take it or leave it, those who actually approach me end up getting (and giving) a somewhat mystical experience and exchange. One of the onlookers, whom I had never met before, was absolutely amazed at my creative process and told me that "it is the theatre, music, and arts that make the rest of the world bearable" I don't think I've ever received such a high compliment in all of my days.




Another fellow called me a "fake" and attempted to accuse me of being a Kieth herring impersonator. I told him that Herring's artwork and approach were extremely influential to my minimalist performance pieces and that I truly respected and honoured the lineage but hoped to always add my own brand of Gothic metropolitan pessimism to the paintings. His shoulders relaxed and he replied " Yeah it's fun, but effective". I call this "talking zen" and truly thrive on changing skeptical opinions about not only what I do but about life in general. I promise you HEY APATHY! is much more than a parody, it is a means of communication, education, interaction and of hope.




As well as the praise and degradation, I also find the providence of experience in live painting unlike anything I have ever known or studied. The ability of the paintings to connect with peoples of all ages and of all walks of life is incredible. I have sold t-shirts to homeless derelicts and been a guest at some of the worlds most revered dinner tables as a result of my mentally unbalanced campaign. The Passe Muraille event was a rather ritzy one and everyone wall dressed to kill and the scent of perfume drowned out that of the champagne. I always end up meeting and associating with the servers, the performers, and the honoured guests and never feel out of place or class regardless of the spotlight or otherwise. The laughing lady in the red (first photo) is Olivia Chow, former Toronto city councilor and member of parliament. She came up to me after the auction to congratulate me on the piece and was rather amazed at how quickly I was able to produce the work. The man in the snazzy coat is Chris Bell (second picture), a member of the board of directors at the theatre and a true patron of the arts in his own right. Chris has been an integral contributor to the HEY APATHY! project for many years as he financed my first website as well as the amazing Wollesely street mural ). Chris also saved my a- before the show. I was running late and made a few mistakes in preparing my supplies for the event but fortunately Chris was more than willing to provide the necessary transportation to get me & my paints to the show on time. We had to put some paints, a stretcher, easel and paper into his classy convertible but Chris was more than willing to take the risk. Luckily nothing was spilt or damaged inside his beautiful automobile. THANKS CHRIS, Jane, Aviva, and all the other folks who made the Gala a roaring success!