When you develop a condo near the famous Graffiti Alley on Queen West, the threat of a paint can coming near your building isn't so scary. In fact, that's exactly what Rush Condos hoped for.
Rush Lane, aka Graffiti Alley, is the lane that borders the new condo development. The developers wanted to honour the famous nearby Fashion District by creating a sales office that represented Toronto.
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The sales office became a creative and unique work of art in its own right. Alterra hopes the artwork will expand the colourful street art loved by locals and tourists in a way that's natural to local artists.
Dagmar Caine of The Brand Factory says of the inspiration behind the project: “We envisioned the Rush Sales Office being an extension of the storied, nearby Graffiti Alley. With that intention strong in our minds, we set out to find local Canadian talent to adorn the building. We landed on En Masse, a multi-artist collaborative drawing project. We were instantly attracted to their aesthetic and highly-nuanced work.”
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En Masse, French for “as a whole” or “all together” is a Montreal based, multi-artist collaborative drawing project. It draws life from the many creative individuals who take part in the project to create large-scale, highly spontaneous drawings in black and white. The artist collective was more than excited to take on the challenge of honouring the area surrounding the building.
Wayne Andrade, representing En Masse speaks to how the collective found artists. "We hand picked some of the best local artists with complementary styles to produce something magical that spoke to the motif. These artisans come from a variety of backgrounds ranging from graffiti, illustration, design and the fine arts. The black and white aesthetic is the component that brings it all harmoniously together."
The final product is inspired, organic, and relevant to the area. Artists involved in the project include Bacon, birdO, Blackburn, Sarah Skrlj, Smolik all from Toronto. Wayne describes the collective's enthusiasm and collaborative attitude.
