Banksy-inspired
Waterloo artist spray-painting celebrity portraits
WATERLOO — Dimitri Totikov picks up the remote and lowers the volume on the TV in his basement studio.
The Netflix series “Abstract: The Art of Design” is playing. This episode features Tinker Hatfield of Nike. Totikov likes to keep the series playing while working in his Churchill Street townhouse. The TV hangs on the wall directly above his work table, which is covered with stencils and overspray from cans of paint.
“It’s amazing,” he says of the series.
The video streaming service remains an important source of inspiration for the 31-year-old. About four years ago, Totikov was watching Netflix when he saw the documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” directed by the famous street artist Banksy.
Totikov was so inspired, he taught himself to make stencils and use spray-paint. He still has the first one he created — two people, each holding a large bunch of helium-filled balloons. The image reminds Totikov of many Banksy works.
Banky’s art is so valuable these days walls are torn down to preserve his work, almost exclusively in private collections. Toronto is the only city in North America where an original Banksy can be seen for free. It is under glass inside One York Street. Totikov uses sheets of wood covered in faux brick in a kind of tribute to Banksy, who pioneered the use of stencils to quickly spray-paint creations on the sides of buildings around the world. Since that first one, Totikov has produced more than 400 works, helped raise thousands of dollars for charity with his art and branded himself Celebrity Spray Paint on Facebook and Instagram.
On the walls around him are portraits of Travis Barker (the drummer in Blink-182), Mac Miller (an American rapper songwriter-producer who died last year), Yelawolf (another American rapper), two portraits of Freddie Mercury and one of the band Queen. On an old vinyl record is a portrait of Kurt Cobain. The celebrity portraits led to commissions from people who want portraits of themselves, family members or pets.
“I put a Freddie Mercury up and everybody goes: ‘Wow, that is so cool.’ Everybody knows Freddie Mercury. As soon as you have a celebrity online that’s when you get: ‘Can you paint my daughter? Can you paint my dog?” said Totikov.
Half of the work he produces now is for private commissions. About three years ago, several of his pieces raised $2,700 at an auction. The proceeds went to Kids Ability. He currently has three portraits (Einstein, John Lennon and engineer Nikola Tesla) hanging in the Bauer Kitchen. Those too will be auctioned to raise funds for charity. He will produce a large portrait of Gord Downie for another charity auction at TheMuseum.
Totikov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. His father was 17 at the time. When his maternal grandmother came for a visit, she took the infant Totikov home with her to Magadan — a small, port city on the Sea of Okhotsk, on Russia’s east coast. It is a remote place known for mining and fishing. As a kid, he played a lot outside because there was no internet and no TV.
“It was a lot of fun,” says Totikov. When Totikov was nine, his father called him from Waterloo. He had moved to Canada, remarried and wanted Totikov to join him. The little boy was flown around the world to join his dad. Nine years later, Totikov had a son of his own, and for 10 years, he worked as a bricklayer. He recently gave that up to sell cars and make art on his days off — Sundays and Tuesdays. He likes to see his paintings sold at charity auctions. He never forgot the help he received from Kids Ability when he first arrived in Waterloo 20 years ago.
“The community here is good,” says Totikov.
He now has a son, a daughter and a second son is due next month. One wall in his basement studio has the outlines of a large mural. It will be a collage of cartoon characters that Tatikov and his 12-year-old son are working on together.
“It’s going to be fun, it is going to be bright and colourful, and it’s going to be our first mural, like father-son mural, and hopefully, he will be inspired to come along with me and start doing walls,” says Totikov.
As soon as you have a celebrity online that’s when you get: ‘Can you paint my daughter? Can you paint my dog?’ Dimitri Totikov