When Mayor Rob Ford waged war on street art, Toronto street artist Spud fought back
Chris Riddell
Contributor
If you love street art, be sure to visit Don’t Tell Mama Gallery, a brand-new gallery on Ossington Avenue. The new exhibition Censored features Rob Ford-themed street art by prolific Toronto graffiti artist Spud.
At most art exhibits, you might expect to see oil on canvas, watercolours, or latex, but at Censored you won’t find any of that. The notorious Spud is a prolific artist that makes his creations like a mad scientist with many different types of media.
“We have a number of different mediums [sic],” said Paolo Dalla Rosa, gallery curator. “We have our canvasses. He’s done some boards. He’s done some digital prints on plastic which are stretched over frames. We’ve got stickers. We’ve got a limited round of posters that were designed for this exhibit.”
Everything is adorned with Rob Ford’s chubby, piggish face. Imagine a giant, grotesque, alien spider with human eyeballs lolling out of its body, and Rob Ford’s toothy grin on its thorax. Now imagine a yellow, slimy slug with the mayor’s face on the creature’s head. At this art show, Ford is a monster.
You can even be the proud owner of your very own “Ford Head,” a digital print of the mayor’s head overlaid with colourful geometric designs. The heads are big sellers.
The reaction to Censored has been mostly positive. Those who don’t like it usually leave without making a fuss, but those who do like it often have a lot to say.
“In terms of inspiring a reaction, I’d have to say the ‘Toronto Haze’ piece, and the ‘Going Off the Rails on a Gravy Train’ piece are notable,” Dalla Rosa said.
If you grew up with Thomas the Tank Engine you’ll probably love “Gravy Train.” It works off of Rob Ford’s first statement in office, which was to “put an end to the gravy train at City Hall,” and now his expense-cutting rampage is getting out of control and running off the rails.
Unfortunately, the mayor has not paid a visit to Don’t Tell Mama yet.
“The mayor’s office declined, saying it conflicted with something on his schedule, so he couldn’t come in,” Dalla Rosa said. “We’d love for him to come. We have no intention to ambush him or anything. This is all tongue-in-cheek and we’d love for him to come down and check it out.”
If you’ve ever been downtown, you may have seen a Spud piece. There are many places on St. Clair West where you can find walls with Spud’s tag in huge bubble letters, or the words “Spud 4 Mayor” stencilled with black spray paint on concrete.
In the world of graffiti art, Spud is something of an icon. He’s also taken up a front line stance against Mayor Ford in his war against graffiti. Spud calls him an “art terrorist” in one Censored piece; a “Road Closed” street sign modified with a Ford head sticker and stencilled words.
Street art has been around for decades finding its roots in the hip-hop movement of the 1970s and ‘80s. Today, it is becoming more commonplace to see spray-paint masterpieces on buildings and alleyways. Some are even commissioned by the city.
“I think it’s becoming a lot more of an accepted and legitimized art form,” Dalla Rosa said. “I think we’re going to be seeing more of it.”
Don’t Tell Mama Gallery will be hosting more street artists in the future, but their focus isn’t going to be only street art. Their goal is to feature mainly local talent, and some international names as well.
Don’t Tell Mama Gallery can be found at 108 Ossington Ave, just a block north of Queen. Censored will run until the end of March.
