Monday Mural

 I'm linking up at Monday Mural

November 2021 - Toronto ON

Last weekend we were going to the McMichael Canadian Art Gallery in Kleinburg, about 38 km from home.

I had bookmarked these murals, not really thinking we likely would never be up that way.

A former Toronto Walmart is turning into one of Canada’s largest mural projects.

The retail giant recently closed the doors of their Edgeley Boulevard location in Vaughan, Ont. Instead of leaving the property vacant, SmartCentres, along with an alliance of artists, created an expansive series of murals.

In total, four works of art cover each side of the building, spanning 30,000 square feet.

Here Comes the Sun

Ricardo Cavolo is a Madrid-based artist known for eccentric and comic-inspired creations. His mural takes over the southern façade of the warehouse, and he directed the painting from Spain. “The worst part of this process was not being there, but the best part has been realizing this kind of magic is possible even when I’m in a different country,” says Cavolo. The bold colours and sunny, vibrant illustrations are meant to symbolize the power of sharing your inner light with the world to get through turbulent times.

Birds of a Feather

Multidisciplinary artist Jerry Rugg, known in street-art circles as BirdO, added his signature blend of animals and geometric shapes to the western façade of the warehouse. For this project, Rugg wanted to include a long-beaked kingfisher, which would fit his horizontal canvas perfectly. “My style is a merging of my interests: graffiti that pops up in unexpected places, surrealism that’s conceptually strange and graphic design that assembles the parts in a harmonious way,” says Rugg.

Better Together

Toronto artist Ben Johnston—who has painted murals in Serbia, India, Colombia and across North America—stamped his characteristic typography onto the northern façade of the building, using bold pinks and reds. “The colours are associated with joy, warmth, sunshine, enthusiasm and optimism,” says Johnston. “Now more than ever, we need to work together to create a better future.”

An Exploration of Our Timespace

The central figure in Montreal-based Jeremy Shantz’s abstract piece on the eastern façade is a disembodied character floating in a liminal space. Shantz created the drawing and worked with local artists to complete the project, in order to illustrate the different elements it takes to build a community. “Mural art is a fantastic platform for collaboration,” he says. “The talented artists interpreted the drawing through their hands, creating the most beautiful work of art.”