Mural festival — Sidewalkin’ — Mtl, QC
Festival MURAL: Sidewalk Murals
This article tells the story of this project VERY well. One of those rare interviews I’m pleased with. Hats off to Leah Collins for writing it so poetically.
“Giant squid have been spotted on Montreal’s St-Laurent Blvd. Great blue herons, too — because for the last two weeks, artist Jason Botkin has been introducing marine life to the otherwise land-locked strip. They’re among the subjects in a series of 10 new works he’s creating as part of the city’s fourth annual Mural Festival (June 9-19).
“As for why he’s interested making art with an ecological cause, Botkin says it’s as universal a subject — global, really — as they come.
Environmentalism is a topic that presents an interesting door to open up with people,” he says. “It’s easier to talk about the environment than it is to talk about politics,” for example, “but the conversation may lead back towards politics or the financial structure.”
I think art can touch people that statistics and facts and figures can’t. It touches them on a more unconscious level, and it invites them to think about an issue in a much different way,” he says. “The doors are of all different shapes and sizes, so as long as you open the door you’re walking in the right direction.”
At the moment, the door happens to be shaped like a fish.”
SIDEWALKIN’
I adore every opportunity to paint on sidewalks and the streets themselves, especially when they’re closed to pedestrian traffic. Cities like Montreal have been making this move with increasing summer time frequencies.
While more strenuous on the body, I just might prefer painting sidewalks over walls, in the unique way that doing so allows for remarkably spontaneous community interactions.
When smearing paint around with a stick on a wall, my back faces those who watch, creating somewhat of a spectator sport. When sidewalkin’ it, i’m directly in the way of people trying to get somewhere, creatively impinging on space that is inherently pedestrian. People approach the working space from all angles, especially above, which is a perfect set up for highly unique contextual conversations.
For me, taking the time to talk with people about what I’m doing is one of the very most important aspects of what I do. The process of painting something ‘nice’ in the gutter, competing with blackened spots of bubblegum and smashed cigarette butts, absolutely takes people off guard.
At times their reaction is delight, or irritation. Some are grateful for a splash of the unexpected to their day, while others become saddened to know work like this has the lifespan of a cut flower.
VALUE IN THE EPHEMERAL
Much of my work is temporary by its very nature, challenging traditional notions of value built around permanence and durability.
Working in this way encourages folks to stop and smell the flowers (while they last)
There is impermanence in all things, even those bits of fossilized street gum.
PERFORMANCE
Painting publicly is always performative, which again embodies a beautiful expression of the ephemeral.
Painting draws curiosity out of folks, who are eager for the opportunity to watch a very important symbolic process unfold, or at least some paint to dry.
The Oberkampf wall in Paris is a prime example of this wonderful and very natural phenomenon. There, the same wall has been repeatedly painted over many years by a huge range of artists. This frequent event has become a regular draw for crowds eager to partake in shared cultural communion.
Projects of this nature engender a fortified sense of pride and ownership of our neighbourhoods, laying seed to the process of community revitalization.
In this way street art has made art more available and relatable to all, regardless of socioeconomic backgrounds, through the democratization of creativity.
