[aka.alias] Ford's War on Creativity

[aka.alias]

Toronto councillor, Adam Vaughan, chooses the above phrasing to refer to Mayor Rob Ford’s campaign against graffiti. The campaign has already seen the erasure of a mural that had brightened up a railway underpass west of Landsdowne Avenue. The street art covered over by Ford's little militia men was claimed as his own by one Joel Richardson, an artist who says he was paid $2,000. by the city just two years ago to bring a little colour to the underpass. More than one such underpass exists in the city, of course, and every one of them upholds the rep for boring drabness that such places have. To add a touch of colour in a manner that might also add a touch of interest to the days of those who pass by them is no mean feat. Why should Ford get his pantywaist so knotted up over the existence of art, spontaneous and planned, in our city?
This past weekend, I spent some time out and about in my hometown. Down on Church, near the intersection with Queen, I came across a mural painted on an alley wall. I found it fascinating, with suggestions of 12th century tapestry work to it. Look at the image to the right of this entry and see if you can see the outstretched front legs of the knights' chargers as they are ridden forth. Look at the person pictured at the top of the mural and see if it suggests to you a king of old, portrayed as the man for whom those destriers will be ridden into battle. I saw all that and more. Of course, part of the beauty of such a piece is that everyone who views it may very well see something different!
I have no idea of whom the mural's creator might be, but I do know that s/he caught my attention and held it; gave me something to marvel at and think about. This happened in a place that otherwise would give very few people a reason to do anything more than simply ignore it while they keep walking on by.
Now imagine Ford's enthusiastic army of art-erasers, out to polish up the city walls by returning them all to a state of boring blandness. Picture those little men and women, all armed with their ever-so-important spray cans of City Clean Blando Paint, quivering with excitement when they discover this wall. They'll have themselves such a grand old time covering it!
Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with Ford wanting to cover up true graffiti. As I was heading home from my sojourn downtown, driving along the DVP, I approached an overpass just south of Lawrence Avenue, I found myself looking at the scrawling black letters in which someone had written "poodick". It has no artistry to it, no appeal to anyone but the sad mind that felt obliged to write it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems to me to be much more the sort of eyesore that Ford's graffiti police should be hunting down and destroying.
The question is: how do we get Ford and his little eager beavers to differentiate between real graffiti and street art? How do we get them to cover up only the former and leave alone the latter?

--
Posted By aka.alias to aka.alias at 6/07/2011 02:57:00 PM