Charlie Johnston: "The client had a graffiti problem on an older building (see 1400
Taylor) next door to it, but he didn't want any tags on the new building; so I was
approached about doing a Mural on the new building to act as a deterrent."
"I'm not going to explain the concept. Like an abstract painting, I want people to derive
their own meaning from the design rather than me explain it to them. It's a departure for
me as a Mural: I don't get a lot of opportunity to explore concepts like this. I had pretty
much carte blanche on this, although I did show them a full rendering before I went
ahead with it. It's a motif I'd like to explore further in other projects- to evolve this style
into sculpture and other pieces. I feel I'm as much a conceptual artist as a realist. I've
done a whole series of paintings that are just colour fields and abstract explorations.
There's a real joy to it; and in certain ways it's more of a challenge than representational
art- there's a whole different set of rules you have to work with."
"It's meant to be inclusive of various types of graffiti style without itself actually being a
graffiti style. It's a piece that's meant to blur the definitions between one style or
another, and to break through those labels."
"In order to see this Mural you have to go there- like a going to a gallery to see the work
inside- it's not one which you would just happen upon, because of where it is."
"It was a blast to do, a really fun piece. I think it interacts with the building architecture
and placement of the windows really well."
