As the holiday season rolls around, Toronto’s award-winning winter art exhibit, Window Wonderland, returns to the Junction for its fourth consecutive year. From November 24, 2023 to January 31, 2024, the magical urban art walk, presented by Isaan Der Thai Kitchen, will transform the Junction into a free outdoor art gallery featuring augmented reality (AR) window murals, all designed by Toronto muralists and international artists.
This year it was my pleasure to participate in this spectacular event and to add my mural to the collective of artwork, that will animate and warm up the Toronto streets in this lovely neighborhood.
My window partner is a cool and stylish Vidal Barber Studio (2988 Dundas St W) and the animator that created the AR experience linked with my mural is the talented Angela Ho (https://www.ahoyvisualart.com). Together we came up with a concept that was out of this world, pun intended!
Window Wonderland project is presented in collaboration with the renowned AR app Artivive. This app adds a layer of augmented reality to traditional art, creating new viewing experience of converting static image into an animated artwork. Visitors at Window Wonderland can simply download the Artivive app, point their smartphones at the artwork of the windows murals and watch the artist’s creation come to life!
One of my favorite parts of creating mural artwork in the city is seeing how my work helps build stronger communities and enhance the human connection in a neighborhood. This cane be displayed through making the spaces more inviting, more picturesque or family friendly, it can also be felt through people stopping by to watch me create the artwork, ask questions or show support. One day I had to work late on the mural and the Barbershop stylists helped me out by setting up lights outside to make sure I could see what I was painting. A passerby saw this set up and asked politely if they could snap a few shots of the work in progress! To my eye, the pictures turned out so cool I had to post them, as a fun memory of behind the scenes on this mural production.
In the end all 3 of us, the shop owners, Angela the animator and myself were pleased with the results of this Alien inspired mural. If you would like to see it in person, watch it animate and check out the other 20 exciting artworks dispersed through the Junction on Dundas West street (map of mural artwork available here) you have until January 31, 2024 to plan your visit to this outdoor winter art exhibit!
When I am in the downtown walking on old streets I am so exited when I see art work blended into building's wall, shop windows or even city utility structures. The street arts make a special vibe of city, feeling uniqueness of the place - that what make a difference one city from the another. This work represents the great imagination of the great artists living here - my appreciation for their wiliness and hard wok make this place different. Thank you