Will the original Leslieville mural artist please stand up?
Only person who can repair ‘complicated’ but loved mural is its painter, but no one knows who that is
A shroud of mystery and a slew of complications hangs over one of Leslieville’s most beloved landmarks. No one knows who designed it, and it’s in desperate need of repair.
“I’m just going to call this a really complicated mural,” Leslieville Councillor Paula Fletcher said, listing a slew of issues that plague the current work of art: a depiction of Alexander Muir, the Maple Leaf Forever Tree, and Leslieville printed in classic lettering against a warm yellow backdrop.
Questions about preserving the mural on a building at Jones St. and Queen St. E. always lead back to its creator. Whoever designed the mural is the only one who could authentically restore or alter it.
While the names of students who did the painting are displayed, the original designer is unknown. Alterations are needed to the original design to avoid the routine vandalism that transforms Alexander Muir into the Joker — or even Adolf Hitler, as happened on Monday, according to Leslieville BIA board member Brad Daniels.
Copyright law requires such changes to be done or at least approved by the original artist, Daniels explained.
But the mural needs more than graffiti-proofing.
The paint is peeling and the wall itself needs structural repairs. The plaster and brickwork needed would cover the mural, and there could be problems matching the old yellow paint.
“We tried and tried and tried to find the original artist,” Fletcher said. “You can’t just willy-nilly go over it.”
She is working to secure funding from StreetARToronto, a city program that helps fund outdoor art in an effort to curb vandalism, to commission a new mural. But change won’t come easily. One option, an impressionist depiction of Ashbridge’s Bay submitted by a local artist, was rejected by the community after the BIA posted it on Facebook.
“It was very pastoral — it looked like a swamp, frankly,” Daniels said. “So, we said no.”
A committee has selected the works of three Toronto artists as possibilities to replace the current mural and will present them at the Project Gallery on Queen Street E. on Jan.18.
Finding a new mural the community is happy with is important to the owner of1173 Queen St. E., too, where the butcher shop Meating on Queen occupies the main floor and an apartment unit fills the second.
“The Leslieville mural has sort of come to identify Leslieville,” said An- drew Elia, who since 1980 has owned the building that hosts the mural, where his grandfather once operated a store. “The problem is now that the mural has sort of lived its life expectancy.”
Outdoor art, Elia remarked, isn’t as easily preserved as a painting.
Elia postponed work on the wall to give the committee and community time to choose a new mural. But ultimately, Daniels pointed out, Elia could do whatever he wants to the wall without consulting residents, because he has full ownership of it.
“He could whitewash it tomorrow if he wanted to, but he’s a very nice guy,” Daniels said.
Elia considered putting up advertising on the wall about 11 years ago, when the Ralph Thornton Centre approached him about its mural project, which had youth paint murals across the area, he recalled.
“Money isn’t everything . . . a sense of community to me is more important. And I wish the graffiti artists would agree,” Elia said, adding he hoped the new mural won’t get tagged.
“Bottom line is people love the old mural. So how do you have a mural that can’t really be the old mural, but makes you feel as good as the old mural?” Fletcher said. “I think that’s what we’re trying to get to.”