um I remember my first lesson in seeing
differently I was in st. Vincent in the
Grenadines I was eight years old maybe
nine my mom brought me a sketchbook I’m
like oh sketchbook I can’t believe it I
can’t wait till dad gets home so I could
join the sketchbook be so good and my
mom watch me she say well it’s in kaki
Andhra and then she proceeds to draw
this right I’m like what are you drawing
mom we did rectangles in high school
what’s going on and she steps back and
she goes why is that I’m like I don’t
know what it is do you lose all your
pepperoni on your pizza
oh no she goes you can’t see what it is
is a giraffe with his head out the
window I was like what and then and then
she slams a sketchbook and she goes art
is all in how you look at it so I was
like wow
a giraffe mom amazing I I thought I knew
what it was but I had to open my mind to
see what it could become so blew my mind
I was like so I still use this thirty
years later I’m an artist in Toronto I
paint graffiti some of my contemporaries
are on the walls here at this
establishment
oh I paint graph I paint murals I paint
I paint all over the world actually I
paint in South Africa Cape Town I paint
in Scarborough Toronto I’ve paid
downtown Toronto all these pieces I also
painted a tree down the street from my
house
they call it the hug tree because I
painted hu G on the back of it which
really means huge ugly guys stands from
my graffiti crew history unleashes
genius but for some reason people
started hugging it and they hugged there
for the next six years and they loved it
for the next six years until it got hit
by a car yeah completely gone no more
tree but really is it I was in a group
show at the Royal Ontario Museum and
they asked me to do something so I was
like you know what I should take the
tree and put it in the in the museum so
that’s what we did we put it on big big
truck and got it to the museum it was
amazing got it in there made an
installation the piece and everything
was awesome we received really well and
then we decided to take it out of the
ROM and put it back on the street
exactly where it was so people can
continue to hug it and love it and it’s
rated a best place to kiss in Toronto
2008 2009 pretty pretty good there
oh but anyway I made big pieces
international stuff I paint trees but
what I really like to do is paint on
like that like cruddy metal where it’s
like its oxidizing so hard that the rust
is like dripping down like it’s actually
liquid or like a crack wall where it’s
like breaking through and a little bits
of leaves of coming through it or just
wood that the Sun is beat down so hard
that the paint stripping off of it all
these things are ordinary but they’re
just so beautiful like it’s beautiful
you just don’t even want to touch it
you know so but I’m an artist so that’s
my canvas so I have to paint something
on it
this is one where actually a piece from
my hometown st. Vincent this is the
stoop I used to hang out when I go home
and just chill buddy stoop this is the
stoop so I had to paint it but it was so
beautiful I didn’t want to other spots
this is right next to it
um so I’m basically you
using all the things around me to come
up with the piece it’s a lovely little
spots that you’re like whoa I would just
walk by that because it’s just kind of
like whatever rotting rotting stuff on
the side but beautiful at the same time
so all these pieces turn them into
something else this is a tribute to my
dad turn into something else I like this
piece somebody light a lit a fire in it
right next to the wall so like the wall
sort of burnt all the pieces away from
before so it kind of looks like a rowdy
mess you know you think you know what it
is
but you have to open your mind to see
what it becomes
so portrait of me and my girlfriend it’s
great oh so yeah all this kind of stuff
actually I want to do an experiment with
everyone I took a couple pieces inside
the Ajo art gallery Ontario just
croppings little bits of paintings and
then I came outside and I took pieces
took shots of stuff outside the AG oh
that I deemed art um can you guys tell
me which one is from the AG oh yes you
sir maybe you yes no it’s not number two
actually it’s number three it’s the
Franz Franz Kline piece really love it
it’s amazing but it’s just to show you
that you know to pay 25 bucks to go into
the art gallery ratio and uh see you
have all these other pieces
$3.99 perfect it’s like finding art in
ordinary places so this leads us to our
other thing I have a built a hashtag
with Joanna Morgan Ezra Waddell they’re
my homies and we built this hashtag
called don’t know it’s art if you guys
have your phones out right now I could
check don’t know what’s art that’s our
hashtag it’s just a collection of weird
little bits that we find on the street
weird little things that we deem is art
that we see is beautiful they’re just
ordinary stuff that you walk by every
day you wouldn’t think this actually
could be art that’s that’s what we do we
collect a whole bunch of pieces like
this for example you guys know your
hotspots rules of thirds this is it
actually happening in real life no
artists it just happens
it’s kind of cool that how the piece is
now that photographer took a photo of it
this is Ezra’s piece he took a photo of
it so he’s the last artist to touch this
work basically another thing you look at
this and you’re like oh mark Mark Rothko
is in town no it’s actually a graffiti
artist painting something and then a
homeowner coming out and painting over
it and there’s sort of semi battling but
they don’t know they’re actually
creating a work of art it’s just
beautiful so that’s kind of stuff love
to do it oh this this is our manifesto
don’t know what art you guys know
Salvador Dali telephone Salvador Dali
used to have press conferences and he
would have a lobster
receiver on a cell phone um so I guess
we Jelani walked by this inside took a
picture of it because somebody set this
up and just kind of walked away like I
think it’s alive actually it’s crazy
anyway so yeah that’s our manifesto of
like art no one knows that it’s art and
they just walked by it it’s kind of
crazy oh this is my favorite this is my
little cheesecake this piece is that
balmy boys if you guys know Toronto
there’s a really good restaurant called
balmy boys this is right behind the
where you pay it’s a little crack in the
wall it’s no more bigger than a quarter
but it’s like three people working
together a person that like did this
work underneath it’s obviously spray
paint and then the spray paint wall the
little bit of white and then the person
priming over the whole thing and then
the person cracking the wall right in
that little spot and then the last
artist myself taking a picture of it so
this how all these things work together
if you guys can add to my hashtag I’d
really love that I want to see what you
guys see when you go to work if you see
a nice little piece that you didn’t
think it was a piece but now it just
gave you this
and it could be a piece take a picture
of it and uh don’t know it’s art to the
hashtag and I could see it
the amazing um but uh why am I asking
you guys to add to my hat well I don’t
want you to go to its art cuz cuz I want
you guys leaving here and seeing
differently I want you to see the beauty
in imperfections I want you to see the
beauty in normality or ordinary things
if we could do this it levels the
platform the levels of playing ground
alright ok for example if you could see
the ordinary in a little boy walking
down the street in a dress an eyeshadow
if you could see the ordinary and a
woman at the beach in a job if we could
see the ordinary in in this then we’ll
begin to see the extraordinary and we’ll
have that conversation art is all in how
you look at it you may think you know
what you’re looking at but you have to
open up your mind to see what we can
become
alright thank you
[Applause]
differently I was in st. Vincent in the
Grenadines I was eight years old maybe
nine my mom brought me a sketchbook I’m
like oh sketchbook I can’t believe it I
can’t wait till dad gets home so I could
join the sketchbook be so good and my
mom watch me she say well it’s in kaki
Andhra and then she proceeds to draw
this right I’m like what are you drawing
mom we did rectangles in high school
what’s going on and she steps back and
she goes why is that I’m like I don’t
know what it is do you lose all your
pepperoni on your pizza
oh no she goes you can’t see what it is
is a giraffe with his head out the
window I was like what and then and then
she slams a sketchbook and she goes art
is all in how you look at it so I was
like wow
a giraffe mom amazing I I thought I knew
what it was but I had to open my mind to
see what it could become so blew my mind
I was like so I still use this thirty
years later I’m an artist in Toronto I
paint graffiti some of my contemporaries
are on the walls here at this
establishment
oh I paint graph I paint murals I paint
I paint all over the world actually I
paint in South Africa Cape Town I paint
in Scarborough Toronto I’ve paid
downtown Toronto all these pieces I also
painted a tree down the street from my
house
they call it the hug tree because I
painted hu G on the back of it which
really means huge ugly guys stands from
my graffiti crew history unleashes
genius but for some reason people
started hugging it and they hugged there
for the next six years and they loved it
for the next six years until it got hit
by a car yeah completely gone no more
tree but really is it I was in a group
show at the Royal Ontario Museum and
they asked me to do something so I was
like you know what I should take the
tree and put it in the in the museum so
that’s what we did we put it on big big
truck and got it to the museum it was
amazing got it in there made an
installation the piece and everything
was awesome we received really well and
then we decided to take it out of the
ROM and put it back on the street
exactly where it was so people can
continue to hug it and love it and it’s
rated a best place to kiss in Toronto
2008 2009 pretty pretty good there
oh but anyway I made big pieces
international stuff I paint trees but
what I really like to do is paint on
like that like cruddy metal where it’s
like its oxidizing so hard that the rust
is like dripping down like it’s actually
liquid or like a crack wall where it’s
like breaking through and a little bits
of leaves of coming through it or just
wood that the Sun is beat down so hard
that the paint stripping off of it all
these things are ordinary but they’re
just so beautiful like it’s beautiful
you just don’t even want to touch it
you know so but I’m an artist so that’s
my canvas so I have to paint something
on it
this is one where actually a piece from
my hometown st. Vincent this is the
stoop I used to hang out when I go home
and just chill buddy stoop this is the
stoop so I had to paint it but it was so
beautiful I didn’t want to other spots
this is right next to it
um so I’m basically you
using all the things around me to come
up with the piece it’s a lovely little
spots that you’re like whoa I would just
walk by that because it’s just kind of
like whatever rotting rotting stuff on
the side but beautiful at the same time
so all these pieces turn them into
something else this is a tribute to my
dad turn into something else I like this
piece somebody light a lit a fire in it
right next to the wall so like the wall
sort of burnt all the pieces away from
before so it kind of looks like a rowdy
mess you know you think you know what it
is
but you have to open your mind to see
what it becomes
so portrait of me and my girlfriend it’s
great oh so yeah all this kind of stuff
actually I want to do an experiment with
everyone I took a couple pieces inside
the Ajo art gallery Ontario just
croppings little bits of paintings and
then I came outside and I took pieces
took shots of stuff outside the AG oh
that I deemed art um can you guys tell
me which one is from the AG oh yes you
sir maybe you yes no it’s not number two
actually it’s number three it’s the
Franz Franz Kline piece really love it
it’s amazing but it’s just to show you
that you know to pay 25 bucks to go into
the art gallery ratio and uh see you
have all these other pieces
$3.99 perfect it’s like finding art in
ordinary places so this leads us to our
other thing I have a built a hashtag
with Joanna Morgan Ezra Waddell they’re
my homies and we built this hashtag
called don’t know it’s art if you guys
have your phones out right now I could
check don’t know what’s art that’s our
hashtag it’s just a collection of weird
little bits that we find on the street
weird little things that we deem is art
that we see is beautiful they’re just
ordinary stuff that you walk by every
day you wouldn’t think this actually
could be art that’s that’s what we do we
collect a whole bunch of pieces like
this for example you guys know your
hotspots rules of thirds this is it
actually happening in real life no
artists it just happens
it’s kind of cool that how the piece is
now that photographer took a photo of it
this is Ezra’s piece he took a photo of
it so he’s the last artist to touch this
work basically another thing you look at
this and you’re like oh mark Mark Rothko
is in town no it’s actually a graffiti
artist painting something and then a
homeowner coming out and painting over
it and there’s sort of semi battling but
they don’t know they’re actually
creating a work of art it’s just
beautiful so that’s kind of stuff love
to do it oh this this is our manifesto
don’t know what art you guys know
Salvador Dali telephone Salvador Dali
used to have press conferences and he
would have a lobster
receiver on a cell phone um so I guess
we Jelani walked by this inside took a
picture of it because somebody set this
up and just kind of walked away like I
think it’s alive actually it’s crazy
anyway so yeah that’s our manifesto of
like art no one knows that it’s art and
they just walked by it it’s kind of
crazy oh this is my favorite this is my
little cheesecake this piece is that
balmy boys if you guys know Toronto
there’s a really good restaurant called
balmy boys this is right behind the
where you pay it’s a little crack in the
wall it’s no more bigger than a quarter
but it’s like three people working
together a person that like did this
work underneath it’s obviously spray
paint and then the spray paint wall the
little bit of white and then the person
priming over the whole thing and then
the person cracking the wall right in
that little spot and then the last
artist myself taking a picture of it so
this how all these things work together
if you guys can add to my hashtag I’d
really love that I want to see what you
guys see when you go to work if you see
a nice little piece that you didn’t
think it was a piece but now it just
gave you this
and it could be a piece take a picture
of it and uh don’t know it’s art to the
hashtag and I could see it
the amazing um but uh why am I asking
you guys to add to my hat well I don’t
want you to go to its art cuz cuz I want
you guys leaving here and seeing
differently I want you to see the beauty
in imperfections I want you to see the
beauty in normality or ordinary things
if we could do this it levels the
platform the levels of playing ground
alright ok for example if you could see
the ordinary in a little boy walking
down the street in a dress an eyeshadow
if you could see the ordinary and a
woman at the beach in a job if we could
see the ordinary in in this then we’ll
begin to see the extraordinary and we’ll
have that conversation art is all in how
you look at it you may think you know
what you’re looking at but you have to
open up your mind to see what we can
become
alright thank you
[Applause]
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