In the eye-for-an-eye department, the Beautifulcity.ca Alliance has launched the Beautiful City Billboard Fee (BCBF) campaign with the aim to democratize the city's public space by funneling a proposed tax for billboard advertising into Toronto's art funding. The thinking: Why pollute our visual landscape with giant ads that offer no significant returns? (Here's looking at you, Joe Camel)

The Alliance, along with artists, activists and city council members is steadily preparing their case to take to Town Hall.

Ok, for a moment, let's forget that "The Banksy Effect" has come to refer to the inflated market value of salable street art. And to eschew the oxymoron of consumable street art, I will hereby refer to it as urban art (because people just get so itchy about the term lowbrow).

The Banksy Effect, to most artists, refers to a jumping off point - the time in their life when they discovered other venues for their artwork. Consequently, the streets became a rather novel place to put them up.

Cue the droves of artists that packed their bags full of posters, stickers, cans, bottles of wheat paste and a few Krinks, and you have the other side of the Banksy Effect. Now, let's reel this in to its effects on Toronto and among these droves, we find a young guy who goes by the handle, We Kill You.

Subtle by no means, he's been around for several years now, decorating your urban space and making a teensy resin toy army behind your backs. Now he wants to kill you take your money.

My first post on this site was an open-ended pondering about the mysterious Toronto Graffiti Art Museum, apparently founded by the patriarch of the agit-art movement, Ron English. Learning of this proposed establishment before moving to Toronto gave me pangs of hope that maybe my future home had progressed beyond my expectations. But after a few months of waiting, the mecca of street art at the back of my mind, the whole thing really started to stink a little. So, when Ron visited my former stomping grounds of World's End Studio (home of Stupid Krap) in Sydney, Australia, I had to make some connections.

The scoop from down under: the whole thing was actually the work of media prankster, Alan Abel. When contacted, Alan immediately acknowledged his involvement and agreed to answer some quick questions about the stunt which apparently was a reaction to Toronto's steps (read: Graffiti Abatement Program) to eradicate graffiti.

What is the definition of vandalism with regard to street art and graffiti? What is the municipal policy and possible penalties for street artists? As street artists become more enmeshed with the art world, how do they maintain their street credibility? How is street art different from tagging and vandalism? Is street art simply a short cut into the art establishment?

These important questions were the full nelsons of the Wednesday night throw down I attended - between artists and establishment at the ROM's Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre as part of their current exhibition, Housepaint.

Revolutions aren't a one-man, DIY, weekend warrior affair. It takes bands of people, guts, dedication and mob mentality. Contacting Toronto: What's Your Revolution, using the TTC as an all-city public stage, should give their Contact Photography Festival entry an appropriate platform for the kind of mobilized change they're showcasing.

Throughout the exhibition, What's Your Revolution will cycle on over 270 screens every 10 minutes on the Onestop network and according to Onestop Media Group, their screens that hang throughout the city's subways reach over one million people per day.

The Artist Project Toronto returned to the historic Liberty Grand for its second annual exhibition and sale of contemporary fine art featuring 150 juried, independent artists.

From March 5th to 8th, 2009 artists from across North America showcased their original artwork with the chance to come face-to-face with enthusiasts, curators and collectors outside of the typical gallery scene.