Around 25 artists from across Ontario joined forces this weekend to beautify a downtown wall during a graffiti jam.
Kitchener-based Paul McDonald, Cambridge-based Merc and friends organized the event to cover the 495-foot wall behind 27 Cardigan St. with art.
Merc had been eyeing it for years, and the time finally seemed right.
There was no theme, “it was mainly to clean up some of the garbage that was on the wall” while having some fun and making art, McDonald said.
The wall was painted over with black for a clean slate. Each artist worked on their own portion, making every few feet of the wall unique.
He said the artists who came out are high quality, mostly in their 30s and 40s, who paint professionally. Many are from Toronto, but some paint internationally as well.
McDonald himself owns a company called The Firm Murals.
Among them was the Toronto-based graffiti artist known as Bacon, who is known internationally for his murals.
His favourite places to work are in smaller towns or less affluent areas, like Nicaragua.
“People have never seen anything like it before (there),” he said. “The reaction you get from the crowd there is quite different from the reaction you get in Los Angeles or any other big city where they see this stuff all the time.
“I love beautifying things,” he said. “It makes me feel good, and it makes everybody else feel good too. Nobody wants to see some destroyed wall. You throw some colour on the wall, the joggers come by and see it and they love it.”
He hopes the work inspires young artists to get creative.
McDonald noted its legal wall to paint on and that the owners are aware of the work they’re doing.
He’s in talks with the building owner right now and hopes they can make it an annual event, returning next year to paint new work.
