Anti-graffiti campaign gone awry? Artist says city erased mural it paid him to paint
Posted June 1, 2011 8:51 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
While Mayor Rob Ford has been on a very public anti-graffiti campaign, a local artist says the city painted over a mural it commissioned him to create.
Joel Richardson says then-councillor and TTC chair Adam Giambrone commissioned him to paint a mural in the city’s Junction neighbourhood in 2008.
It was so well-received that Giambrone and his staff asked Richardson to paint a second piece, and helped him secure funding through Toronto’s Clean and Beautiful secretariat.
The scene in question features faceless men in suits, dollar signs and hearts.
A city spokeswoman said the mural was painted over after they received a complaint saying it was political. She said the city wouldn’t endorse a political painting and some had thought the piece was referring to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Richardson responded to this, saying his mural had nothing to do with Harper.
With files from The Canadian Press
