Like any good camper, this bird-headed muralist leaves each wall better than he found it
Come for the bird head — stay for the zany, community-driven murals. Meet graffiti artist birdO
birdO is a Toronto-based artist most well known for his massive public artworks featuring surreal geometric creatures. He spends most of the winter hibernating in his studio and most of the summer perched on scissorlifts stretching up the sides of buildings, painting dreamlike murals in towns and cities across Canada and beyond.
These places, both urban centres and small towns, are important to him. He points out: "I think there's a responsibility that might be overlooked sometimes from the artist's perspective — that you're gone. You're leaving that town, and maybe not coming back for a long time. But you're leaving something behind that people are going to be viewing every day."
So when birdO arrives somewhere new, he doesn't just paint — he tries to immerse himself in the community. This is how he learns and grows.
Watch the video:
In this video, you'll meet birdO as he paints a new mural for the Up Here Festival in Sudbury, Ontario. The painting depicts two wolves on this wall in the downtown core. While he was painting it, the spectacle drew a lot of foot traffic. And one particular interaction helped birdO understand an alternate meaning for his piece.
A visitor told birdO the story of Two Wolves — a Cherokee metaphor used to explain inner turmoil. Fighting inside each of us is a good wolf and a bad wolf. The bad wolf is evil and represents anger, jealousy and greed. The good world is peace, joy and compassion. The wolf that wins the fight is the one that we feed. It's just one story that inspires birdO to care about community and try as hard as he can to leave each town better than when he arrived.
Follow birdO here.
Watch CBC Arts: Exhibitionists on Friday nights at 11:30pm (12am NT) and Sundays at 3:30pm (4pm NT) on CBC Television.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
