New mural finished

NE corner of Kingston Road and Victoria Park Avenue

The intersection of Kingston Road and Victoria Park Avenue has a stunning new look thanks to the vision of mural artist Uber5000 and the City of Toronto’s anti-graffiti program.

The once drab corner has been transformed by a riot of colour in the form of a whimsical mural that draws inspiration from both The Beach and Birch Cliff.

Chickens everywhere

The mural depicts a beach party scene where the party-goers are Uber5000’s signature chickens who are sunbathing, boating and building sandcastles.

There are birch trees as well, to signify that the intersection is the gateway to Birch Cliff, and to tie in with the Mural Routes birch tree project.

Mural artist Uber5000

“I just wanted to make the wall look as fun as I could and that would be the message,” said Uber5000, who has painted dozens of other murals in Toronto. “If you can give somebody two minutes of happiness or 20 seconds of happiness then that’ s a pretty good thing when you multiply it by everyone in the city.”

Building plagued by graffiti

Nobody could be happier than property owner Andy Dimitrakakis who has spent the last ten years removing grafitti from the side of the building.

“I think it’s fabulous, it’s amazing, it’s beautiful. It’s creating a lot of buzz in the neighbourhood. People are stopping by and taking pictures with the kids and the family,” said Dimitrakakis.

The mural was unveiled this afternoon by Ward 36 Councillor Gary Crawford who called it “a wonderful addition to southwest Scarborough and the Beaches.”

“From my perspective, this is probably one of the best ways to deter graffiti in the city – to put up art. Not only art that looks good but art that also has the respect from a lot of the graffiti artists and a lot of the people who tag,” Crawford said.

The mural was funded through a partnership between the City’s Clean Toronto program, Dimitrakakis and Pizza Pizza which leases space on the corner.

More photos below.