SPUD: Hot Potato

March 8, 2012

SPUD is arguably the most prolific and important graffiti artist active in Toronto right now. In advance of his gallery show opening tonight on Ossington, I’ve decided to post a series of SPUD graffiti that I’ve found over the past few months.

SPUD’s caricatures of Mayor Rob Ford are ubiquitous in Toronto. Because SPUD’s anti-Ford icons will be the focus of his gallery show tonight, I’ll begin by considering these (the show is at the Don’t Tell Mama Gallery at 108 Ossington Ave., 2nd floor, and runs until the end March).

What I don’t get is why we allow an alcoholic and bigoted philistine to run our city… Anyway, this is one reason why SPUD’s stuff is great: his graff conveys a broadly accessible and progressive political message that can be seen all over the city.

As we all know, Mr. Ford is no friend of unsolicited street art, which could explain why SPUD and his team are being hotly pursued by Toronto Police. I just hope that SPUD’s around and throwing up graffiti in the 905 area during the next election cycle.

In addition to his Rob Ford stuff, SPUD’s got several other important designs up around Toronto. One space that SPUD really likes to target is the back of street signs.

These are just a few examples, but you can find these everywhere right now in Toronto’s West End.

How did he get up here??

SPUD has also put up other variations of his goofy smile image on alley walls and garage doors in the West End.

Although this cannot be confirmed, it appears that SPUD may run with a crew (a group or “gang” of graffiti artists who work together) called DMC. These guys excel at putting up epic roof murals in sick locations. Check out these examples, one each in Kensington, Queen West, and Little Portugal:

How did they get up there??

SPUD himself excels at these large-scale letter-based murals on walls and rooftops that are difficult to access.

While his sticker art, bombs, and pastes can be seen near Nathan Philips Square, Church St., and as far East as the Beaches, SPUD’s murals and paintings claim prime rooftop and alley locations on almost every block of Queen St. West, from Dufferin St. to University Ave.

No other artist in the city comes close to matching SPUD’s rooftop coverage along Queen West; his work is a significant achievement in Toronto graffiti history.

There are a few final things to note about SPUD’s urban oeuvre, keeping in mind that whatever he puts up in the gallery tonight will differ significantly from the paintings here (which have been put up quickly and clandestinely in the dark).

When throwing up his tag, SPUD uses a diversity of styles (all interesting in their own way), from simple block letters…

… to large, stylized bubble letters matched with Banksy-esque stencils and block letter translations…

… to this bad boy, below. Yes, it’s a four letter S-p-u-d…

… but it’s also a frickin’ bicycle!!

Cool right? I’ve watched this neat image evolve all winter from an elegant cursive message to a letter-pictograph hybrid. It gets the artist’s name up, and at the same time trumpets the best way to get around town: by bike! So look out for this and other SPUD bombs the next (or first?!) time you go out on a graffiti walk.

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Also, here’s a sweet video I just found that SPUD has put up to promote his show:

Cheers!

–Pablo

Written by pablolikessandwiches Posted in bombs, murals, SPUD, wheat paste