Toronto's Graffiti - Cool or Uncool?

Toronto - Is it art or vandalism? Controversial – definitely. Love it or hate it: graffiti, street art, and murals are the fascinating works of a diverse sub-culture of extreme artists, which I learned much more about on a Toronto walking tour with Jason Kucherawy of TourGuys.ca. You’ve seen Rick Mercer ranting down the colourful alleyways of Toronto. We worked our way from Kensington Market down to the laneways often featured by Mercer, south of Queen between Spadina and Bathurst.

More info: Contact TourGuys.ca about Grafiti Walking Tours (the company is affiliated with Toronto Urban Adventures.) Here's what Toronto City Hall has to say about graffiti.

Tour guide Jason Kucherawy points out the current graphic design of Toronto's Canada Post Boxes: a busy design that discourages 'tagging' (graffiti signatures.)

Toronto graffiti magazine publisher Jason P. sells 500 to 1,000 cans of graffiti paint each month for $6 to $7 each. This is at one of three graffiti paint shops in Toronto.

Mayor Rob Fod is the subject of a number of graffiti art works in the city.

It will cost the shopkeeper $75 and take an hour for this young freelance graffiti cleaner to remove these 'tags' from a wall in Kensington Market.

'Graffiti' is actually an artists signture - the artist looses the letters while trying to maintain the essence of the word.

Some businesses will hire graffiti artists to create murals incorporating their products. If a city bylaw officer deems it 'graffiti' they can be forced to remove it or pay for it being removed.

If graffiti is put on a shopkeepers wall, even without their permission, if a bylaw officer says it must come off the shopkeeper has to pay for that. So, the victim gets to pay for cleaning up a crime. In a laneway running north off Dundas just east of Spadina you can find a wonderful long Dragon - capturing the spirit of the Chinatown neighbourhood.

One hotel owner pays a $160 fine monthly so she can keep a small patch of 'street art' by notable artist Banksy on the outside of her building. A photo of the origninal work hangs in the lobby.

Some artists have signature images, such as this yellow bird which pops up repeatedly.

Canada’s Coolest:

Welcome to a new feature on Canada Cool. I'll be presenting different 'Coolest' lists with my favorites and I encourage you to nominate suggestions from your own experiences. You can Twitter @CanadaCool or email Lucy@CanadaCool.com. Let me know what makes your suggestion exceptionally cool. Remember, by contributing your comments you are giving Canada Cool permission to quote you. Only a selection of submissions will be included, but all comments and submissions are greatly appreciated!

The first feature is: Canada's Coolest Single Day Scenic Drives

Here are some of my favorites...

The Icefields Parkway, Jasper National Park, Alberta - This 229 km (142 mi) Rocky Mountain route from Banff/Lake Louise to Jasper passes 100 frozen rivers and nudges the base of the Athabasca Glacier - the most accessible glacier in the world. You can stop and explore it. It spills down from the Columbia Icefield, an area of ice so massive that you could fit the entire population of North America on it with each person getting at least a square metre of space.

The Corridor, Algonquin Park, Ontario – this 56-km stretch of Hwy 60 cuts through the southwest section of Algonquin Park. Less than three hours north of Toronto the park is a nature-lover's paradise with 7,725 km of lakes, rivers, forest, trails, camping, comfortable lodges and 2000 km of canoe routes. Offers hiking trails to stop and enjoy, but what makes it really cool is that it’s one of the best places in North America to spot moose (especially in May and June). And, on Thursday nights in August up to 600 cars will gather to listen to wolves howl.

The Cabot Trail, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia – Driving this 303 km (187 mile) route is like riding a roller-coaster: the road snakes around hairpin turns, rises to heights over 365 metres (1200 ft), weaves around headlands revealing spectacular coastal scenery, and plunges down to sea level taking you into the heart of small fishing communities. The most dramatic scenery is between the Cape Breton Highlands National Park entrance near Cheticamp and Pleasant Bay, so go slow. And, plan some flexibility into your schedule, so you can drive it on a clear day.

And here are some of your nominations for 'Canada's Coolest Single Day Scenic Drives'...

More from Canada’s Coolest

'Canada's Coolest' topics we'll be publishing in the future:

• Golf Course Features
• Haunted Hotels
• Hotel Special Services

Send your suggestions to lucy@CanadaCool.com

Recent 'Canada's Coolest' topics: