A reliable source (a Broken Pencil magazine editor) has told Spacing that the sidewalk carvings found at King and Simcoe, made by a man who asked for money in that spot for years, was being removed today by a city works crew. To see a larger version of this photo go to Sam Javanrouh’s Daily Dose of Imagery., or check out Jorge Chaves‘ photo of the more complete carving. There was a story about the artist in the Star last summer but I can’t seem to find any further info on the man.
UPDATE: our reliable source has posted in the comments section, giving us all a detailed account.
7 comments
I hope this isn’t true. Why is Toronto so hell-bent on destroying every small bit of art that gives it character and personality?
Can any “reliable source” confirm whether “removed” means “destroyed” or “removed” means “carefully extracted”? I oh so wish that even if it weren’t in situ, it’d be donated to City Archives or something…
I lived at King and John from May 2004 to November 2005 and I loved walking by this great piece of city art whenever I was walking around the area. Every couple of weeks whenever the colours got muted he would paint it fresh again. Why couldn’t they leave this the way it was?? It brought a smile to myself and I’m sure to other people too.
Why was this removed? I’m sure that there are a lot more of ugly grafitti pieces on Spadina that could use some removing. Another waste of city resources again.
Hey everyone, I’m the ‘reliable source’ as I work right on the corner where it happened. I watched, at 9:30 this morning, as one city worker took out some sort of concrete grinder and proceeded to rip up the entire carved image. A huge cloud of dust was shot everywhere, including some stones, etc. All that remains now is a bunch of ugly scrape marks – the carving is completely, i repeat, completely gone.
I watched this man every day when I went to work. He was nice, funny, and talented. It took him months to complete this and everyone that walked by loved looking at what he created (and numerous photos were taken as well). There was no way I could’ve questioned the city worker, as I had work to do – and he was pretty much done when i really started to see what he was doing.
I’ve taken a picture of the ‘aftermath’ and will be posting it soon.
sorry bout this everyone, it looks like ugly grinder scrapings are more appealing than a genuinely affectionate piece of art. Shame.
This city action truly is a shame!!!
Just a few weeks ago, I blogged about the man that made this piece of street art:
At the corner of King & Simcoe, I met “Tattoo”. He had a lot to say. He served in Vietnam, has been homeless since 1972, and has over 300 tattoos (some of which he showed me). I pointed out the mass of steam coming from a nearby grate, and he told me that this grate was his home. We walked over to it, and he showed me the designs he’d carved in the concrete – an ongoing art project he’s still working on.
We talked about the steam. After it snows, the melt trickles down into the grates. The grate is part of the heated tunnel system, and makes for a warm place to sleep in the harsh Toronto winters. When it steams, however, Tattoo isn’t able to sleep on it (because it condenses and makes things dangerously wet and cold) . Sometimes used pizza boxes can be used to stear the steam off to one end of the grate and make them drier and habitable. It’s obvious that sometimes a little ingenuity can go a long way. We shook hands, said goodbye, and Tattoo ran off to meet his wife of 13 years…
I stuck around to photograph the steam as steetcars passed (which also appeared on the Spacing Photoblog).
This is something the Star’s “Fixer” should get on.
Argh. Sad. Argh.
$4 Million to Toronto Unlimited for shitty-bland. Then we destroy something free, and local and wonderful and unique. Some middle management slob needs to be fired.
I read about this on a news site and came deliberatly to this site to see the picture as i left Toronto many years ago and had never seen the actual street carving. I’m fascinated and mystified by this story. It seems as though the city deliberatly did this, as the surrounding area was not the same surface. Why? Does anyone have any idea why?
Toronto is not nearly as ‘shitty-bland’ as it was when I grew up in it… but then these wierd things happen, leaving one staring at the computer thinking… ‘It must have been someone from Pickering.’