…In my early days of Queen street studios, as we called it, I brought a sample collection of art pieces with me, developing others while sitting on the street.  These pieces included  ballpoint and ink pen illustrations from my short stories, reverse acrylic ink paintings of child faces in a state of defragmentation,and oil painting studies.

"Window to endlessness" 8"/11" ballpoint & ink on paper from "In the Firkin" story booklet, 2004. "Boom 2" 4"/6" from "Boom series" acrylic/India ink on watercolor paper, 2004. "I.T.A." 18"/24" redrawing from smaller illustration in the "Subway Door" story booklet, India ink, 2004.

"Ghost" reverse glass painting, oil-stick & spray paint, 24"/32", 2004. Various from "Small Daily Paintings" reverse painted glass, acrylic ink & spray paint, 4"/6", 2005.

"Nuclear Enlightment series, 1 & 2", reverse painted plexi-glass, acrylic/India ink & spray paint, 2005

Working alongside Mike Parsons and seeing how a theme, style and story was developing consistently in front of a captivated audience was very inspirational.  It was a two stage development. First the instantaneous, watching as the drawing/painting came into existence in front of your eyes.  The second was a gradual and steady one which became evident once you stepped back from the drawing/painting and saw it become a piece of a mosaic that was continually evolving (ie. style, medium) working together forming a story. This gradually helped me in focusing on a specific theme where I could still experiment but within boundaries where bodies of work would form, not just random pieces.

"Guys & Girl", India ink on canvas, 3'/4', 2005. "Just Keep Smiling...", acrylic India ink on canvas, 3'/4', 2005. "Eternal Child", acrylic India ink on canvas, 3'/4', 2005.

"Emma Goldman", acrylic ink on canvass, 3'/4', 2005."Sub-Comendante Marcos #3", acrylic ink on canvass, 3'/4', 2005."Roy Forbes Harrod", acrylic ink on canvass, 3'/4', 2005.

The “Nuclear Enlightenment” series was the first successful body of work which I created on Queen st. West in Toronto. The series focused on children’s faces reverse painted in washes on glass and plexi with a combination of various mediums. The idea was to paint a person attaining enlightenment while simultaneously being consumed by a nuclear blast.  It was an exciting way of painting and I managed to sell a few pieces but do logistical issues of working with glass on the street I put the series on a back burner.

While working on “Nuclear Enlightenment” I was already standardizing a surface – a 3’ x 4’ piece of gessoed canvass, with grommets for easy hanging.  All I needed was a theme, something the public could respond to emotionally and intellectually.

After a few fruitless attempts with different subject matter, I began painting faces of individuals who were active participants in the shaping of their societies. My first theme was “Revolutionaries, Philosophers and Economists,” with Emma Goldman as my first inspiration followed by Sub-Comendante Marcos, Carl Gustav Jung, and Sir Roy Forbes. All named inspirations, with the exception of Roy Forbes, were individuals I was familiar with having read their work and biographies. I was so inspired by these individuals because they were all people with ideas, who took action implementing them. I wanted to share their importance and my knowledge of them with the public.  I believe that there is intrinsic value in creating and showcasing work which gives homage to people who pursued their hopes and dreams.

Before winter set in I painted close to 10 paintings on the side walk or as we joked around in the “Queen Street Studios”.”The Players” series was born. Sub-Comendante Marcos sold on two separate occasions along with Roy Forbes and I got one or two commissions for work in that format.   After that year I was not going to return to Queen Street, I was going to take vending on the road and into other locations around the city, but more on that later…

Crew member

Andrzej T.

Early Vending setups on Queen St. West in Toronto 2004.

While still @ art college a group of us were finding various ways of inserting our images and ideas within the cluster fabric of Toronto. A pink fridge was seemingly randomly appearing around the city making art works available for free to those who happened to stumble upon it. Black & White murals were popping up all over commenting on various ills of city life. There were stickers, posters, wall paper, painted bottle caps, stencils and countless other inventive ways of bringing “Art to the People”.

In the spring of 2004 Mike Parsons started setting up his artwork on a stretch of sidewalk on Queen St West in Toronto. Soon enough other artists began to join him, some daily others more sporadically.  By the time of summer of 2005 a consistent group of about six artists formed where each not only brought work for sale but also a means of making fresh work on the street itself. We drew, painted with charcoal, ink, acrylics, watercolors, and other mediums continually developing our themes and styles.

Juli McMillan painting on Queen Street 2005

Andrzej Tarasiuk reverse glass painting early experimentation on Queen Street West, Toronto.

It was an exciting time of accelerated development.  The need for having fresh work for sale on a daily basis pushed me personally to create more work (i.e. reverse painted glass, canvass poster pieces) during that one summer than almost in my entire time at the college.  Interaction with a wide variety of people provided an abundance of experiences.  The street was a hard place by nature to make and sell art work at but the time spent there provided a foundation upon which projects such as  “The Players” sprung from. “The Players” series in its third stage, which I  will be touring with was conceived on Queen St. that summer of 2005 but more on that later…

crew member

Andrzej T.

Charlie Green, Millie Knaff on Queen St West.

Mike Parsons, Margaret Saliba, Millie Knaff On Queen St West.

WMADWTD is much more than a touring art show; it’s an experimental incubator for art and ideas; a professional development workshop.  For the whole month of August – in addition to producing events together – our crew will workshop personal creative projects and seek-out fresh inspiration far away from our Toronto safe zones.   

For my personal end of things, I’ll set up a series of interactive situations that use various social lubricants to grease the wheels of conversation.  One of these situations is an informal beer tasting, whereby people at a party are invited to join me for a comical yet informational exploration of independent Canadian beers.  I’m a bartender by trade, and I’ve worked in a brewery, so this performance comes quite “naturally” to me.  And I must say, I prefer the whole beer tasting experience much more when it’s in an artistic context, as opposed to a servile one.

A little more background: This creative exploration of social lubricants started (officially) at art school, where I made fruit salad for my classmates and ate it with them in silence.  (I had been inspired by something the German philosopher Martin Heidegger wrote about silence- as-communication). Later, just two years ago, I produced a piece called “Let’s Get Together for Coffee”, for which I built a ramshackle espresso bar and went shot-for-shot with all takers.  Since then my repertoire of social lubes has expanded to include beer and lemonade.

A little social  lubrication goes a long way, and I look forward to further exploration of this theme on the road.  Stay tuned for more posts on this subject.  I’m just getting started.

- crew leader Ringer