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Arts

The Junction Triangle gets its mural back

Posted by Derek Flack / October 24, 2011

16 Comments

Joel Richardson Mural Junction TriangleAlmost five months after Joel Richardson's mural "The Formula" was unceremoniously buffed by the City of Toronto over confusion related to its commissioned status (or lack thereof), the artist has just finished its replacement. Located underneath the rail overpass on Dupont just west of Lansdowne, the new mural is even more colourful and expansive that its ill-fated predecessor — and makes good on the promise it showed when I stopped by to chat with Richardson in mid September.

Still political in nature — which was one of the reasons cited for the removal of the first one — Richardson's new mural takes to task the yes-men and yes-women who make what he calls "free-wheeling" capitalism possible. Cast as semi-faceless automatons, the suit-clad characters appear with hands raised as if to accept an order or to pledge allegiance to an economic philosophy that robs them of their individuality.

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dnr / October 24, 2011 at 02:34 pm
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Rofo's anti-art goon squad strikes again. Hey Rob Ford - do me a favour, can you please fix the roads before you spend money on wall buffing crews? Thanks. I was driving down Sherbourne street last night and it's got to be the worst road in T.O. I'm sure there are better smoother roads in Afghanistan, no wait I was just in Montreal - Their roads are nice and smooth.
NO MONORAILS - FIX THE ROADS!!!!!
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yawn / October 24, 2011 at 03:39 pm
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What a depressing bit of Bansky-style stencilly posterized in photoshop for 3 seconds wall of crap this is.

And why is Jon Stweart sitting on a pile of fire pillows.
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JS / October 24, 2011 at 04:29 pm
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This is incredible. Way better then it's predecessor!
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k386 / October 24, 2011 at 04:55 pm
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Nice to see this finally finished, will have to make the trek up to check it out.
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wide awake replying to a comment from yawn / October 24, 2011 at 04:59 pm
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I'm curious if you can do better, or are the confinements of your depressing basement apartment too comfortable to go out and pursue something that is as aesthetically pleasing as this?

Gotta love trolls and their awkward syntaxes.
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fwegweg replying to a comment from yawn / October 24, 2011 at 08:45 pm
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Banksy never did anything like this. Making black and white stencils doesn't make something 'Banksy-esque', it means you need to need to touch up your knowledge of art (or lack thereof).
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yawn / October 24, 2011 at 10:36 pm
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Good Lord 2 or 3 shade stencils is ALL Banksy does.
His art: shyt one panel cartoons. That's it. It's like the Far Side, without the wit. More like Bizarro.
This mural on Dupont is in the same lame camp as Banksy "art".
I do not care for it.
It's amazing how pouty and whiny people get - i.e. wide awake - when someone doesn't like something they do. Predictably, wide awake pulls out the moronic if you can't do better, your critique of something is less valid. So dumb. I know it's challenging to come up with your own words, so it's okay to just regurgitate a tired, decade old living in the basement insult.
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Tom replying to a comment from yawn / October 25, 2011 at 12:53 am
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Hey Yawn, you're a pretentious name dropping douche.
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Tom replying to a comment from yawn / October 25, 2011 at 12:57 am
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Shut up douche... get off the internet and do something. You got any murals out there?
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Rab replying to a comment from yawn / October 25, 2011 at 02:19 am
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waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
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Yawn / October 25, 2011 at 08:31 am
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You think mentioning "Far Side" and "Bizarro" is name dropping.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

In my view , it's an ugly mural using a cliche style. The elements themselves are cliche and weak. It's a train wreck. Oh no - I just name dropped a mode of transportation. How pretentious of me.

And thanks for coming back 4 minutes after your first amazing post to put another one up!
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snooze / October 25, 2011 at 11:54 am
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Shouldn't public art beautify a neighborhood? This mural is intentionally dreary, depressing, and makes the street look post-apocalyptic with its tired anti-business message (bar code as prison? Ground-breaking.) The technique of scratching away paint to add more crudely scrawled numbers makes the mural look old and neglected.

The city's money would have been better spent cleaning the concrete up and repainting the green barrier fence that runs alongside it.
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LeslieCz / October 25, 2011 at 01:37 pm
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"Yawn" criticizes the mural, and people call Yawn a douche and suppose he lives in a basement and can't paint better. How blindly defensive and insecure. It isn't a particularly original or engaging mural, people. Deal with that.
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dnr / October 25, 2011 at 07:29 pm
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Relax people, it's under a bridge not at the top of your street.
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kitAutonomome / March 30, 2012 at 01:04 pm
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www.blogto.com : monster black swallows efqbqladnaj370.blogspot.com/2012/03/monster-black-swallows.html
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John Q. Public / April 29, 2012 at 03:10 am
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That piece of garbage is wonderful in as much as it represents the kind of garbage that masquerades as art, and for which geniuses like Adam Vaughan, Joe Mihevc, Gord Perks, et al. squander public funds. I would not get too concerned about this particular "contribution" to urban blight as I am confident it will soon be eradicated. Chemical paint remover is a WONDERFUL thing!
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