How do you fight graffiti in Montreal? Paint a mural of Leonard Cohen

Deborah Teman was fed up with continually having to clean graffiti off her garage door.

Situated in a back alley, near the intersection of Laurier and Durocher avenues, Teman would often wake up in the morning to find the black garage door covered in spray paint.

"We had nasty graffiti on the door, and it looked terrible."

One of her neighbours, artist JF LeBlanc, came up with a creative solution — paint a mural of a famous Montrealer on the garage door.

"He said, 'Oh, maybe Carey Price or Leonard Cohen.' I said, 'What?! Did you say Leonard Cohen? OK, sold! You can use my garage door, you can do whatever you want,'" Teman told CBC.

What's one way to fight graffiti in Montreal? Paint a mural of Leonard Cohen

7 years ago

Duration 0:56

A Montreal artist was tired of seeing graffiti on this garage door, so he came up with the idea to paint a mural of Leonard Cohen. Video by CBC's Jay Turnbull.

Teman, who was born in Paris but now lives in Montreal, is a big fan of the singer-songwriter and poet.

"For me, he's the true Montrealer."

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LeBlanc got to work. He spent about 30 hours on the gold and black mural.

"I decided to paint it in gold because he's the man with the golden voice," LeBlanc said.

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Ever since the garage door was given a new look with Cohen's portrait, the graffiti has stopped.

"My neighbours are really happy about it because it looks much better than graffiti. But also, everybody who passes by, they comment, and they post it on Instagram and Facebook," Teman said, adding that she's also pleasantly surprised with the result.

"I didn't expect it to be that good!"

LeBlanc is now getting knocks on his door from other neighbours who are eager to share their thoughts and also want to know if maybe they can get a mural on their own garage doors.

"One woman came up and said, 'He's my favourite artist.' I was pretty touched by that," LeBlanc said. "The reaction of the people is pretty great."