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rfmcdonaldWhat the hell? I just passed by this mural, a ten minutes' walk away from me at most, two weeks ago. By its placement it was pretty clearly one of the murals commissioned by the City of Toronto for certain of its underpasses. How this mistake could be made is beyond me?
A city director says that the photographed mural was unauthorized by the city and that there had been complaints it was political, Parker provided the Star with E-mails from Giambrone's staff recommending he apply for finding (but not, apparently proof of receiving the funding), Giambrone's successor Ana Bailão--elected on a platform of opposing many of Giambrone's policies--said she found nothing wrong with it, and the responsibles seem poised to investigate. It''s just such a shame that the mural had to be destroyed to get this amount of attention: I feel guilty now for not taking along a camera so as to preserve something of it.
Artist Joel Richardson says the city has painted over a popular Dupont St. mural that it paid him $2,000 to create, an apparent misfire in Mayor Rob Ford’s war on graffiti.
A city spokeswoman says the railway underpass wall was returned to drab grey because Richardson’s artwork was unauthorized, uncommissioned, political and may have “referred to (Prime Minister) Stephen Harper.”
Richardson says in 2008 then-Davenport councillor Adam Giambrone’s office asked him to paint a mural on the north wall of the underpass west of Lansdowne Ave., on the funky Junction Triangle neighbourhood’s eastern edge.
The colourful scene of faceless men in suits, dollar signs and hearts, funded mostly through donations from local businesses, proved popular enough, he says, that Giambrone’s staff asked him to paint another mural on the south wall, and helped him get a $2,000 commission from the city’s Clean and Beautiful secretariat.
The painter and filmmaker kicked off work on the new mural last Sept. 25 with a community party. He had spent at least 30 hours on it, with about another 10 to go, when he learned Monday the city had used grey and white paint to completely blot out the mathematical formula incorporating Morse code symbols and grim-faced businessmen with yellow halos.
Reaction to the “commentary on the mathematics of modern finance,” had been mostly positive, he says, noting it was featured on a Jane’s Walk neighbourhood tour in early May.
The mural’s erasure “was shocking, obviously,” he said Tuesday. “I’m hoping that it was a mistake. I can’t imagine the city would paint over something they paid for. I’m still processing that it’s gone.”
A city director says that the photographed mural was unauthorized by the city and that there had been complaints it was political, Parker provided the Star with E-mails from Giambrone's staff recommending he apply for finding (but not, apparently proof of receiving the funding), Giambrone's successor Ana Bailão--elected on a platform of opposing many of Giambrone's policies--said she found nothing wrong with it, and the responsibles seem poised to investigate. It''s just such a shame that the mural had to be destroyed to get this amount of attention: I feel guilty now for not taking along a camera so as to preserve something of it.
