Jonathan Cohen's photos with the keyword: boul. St-Laurent

Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) and Barney’s Version (1997). His 1970 novel St. Urbain’s Horseman and 1989 novel Solomon Gursky Was Here were shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He is also well known for the Jacob Two-Two children’s fantasy series. In addition to his fiction, Richler wrote numerous essays about the Jewish community in Canada, and about Canadian and Quebec nationalism. Richler’s Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! (1992), a collection of essays about nationalism and anti-Semitism, generated considerable controversy.

Jason Botkin was born in Denver, Colorado in 1974. He is the co-creator and co-director of EN MASSE. He graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in drawing. Botkin has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, and Europe. This is the continuation around the corner of the building of the full mural depicted below. I find the exaggerated emphasis on noses amusing in light of the garbage piles behind the building

Jason Botkin was born in Denver, Colorado in 1974. He is the co-creator and co-director of EN MASSE. He graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in drawing. Botkin has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

Gaia is a New York artist who graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Given his American background, the theme of this mural is somewhat unexpected. But Gaia is active around the globe and immerses himself in the social and historical context of each project he tackles. Note the text in the lower left quadrant of the mural. Translated from the French it asks "To whom does nationalism belong?" In an interview, Gaia mentioned that the division of the mural into quadrants was influenced by the flag of Québec. Three of the quadrants show aboriginal masks, inspired by the work of First Nations artists from Canada’s west coast. The lower right-hand quadrant shows the face of René Lévesque, founder of the sovereignist Parti Québécois and an icon of Québec nationalism. For my part, I can’t help feeling that the vertical stripe in the centre of the mural represents Saint Lawrence Boulevard, the site of the mural. Saint Lawrence Boulevard (or "The Main") divides Montréal’s east side from its west side. The west side is primarily anglophone, and its residents tend to see themselves as Canadians first, and Québécois secondly; the residents of the east side are primarily francophone who tend to see themselves as Québécois first, and Canadians secondly.

This mural seems to be a romanticized tribute to the First Nations people who lived in Montreal prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Hochelaga meaning "beaver dam" or "beaver lake" was a St. Lawrence Iroquoian 16th century fortified village at the heart of, or in the immediate vicinity of Mount Royal in present-day Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Jacques Cartier arrived by boat on October 2, 1535; he visited the village on the following day. He was greeted well by the Iroquians, and named the mountain he saw nearby, Mount Royal. The town, surrounded by a wooden palisade, had around fifty houses made of wood and bark, mostly long-houses, rectangular and rounded; the population is estimated to have been approximately 3,000 inhabitants. It was doubtlessly destroyed afterwards, because it was not mentioned by Jacques Cartier on his return visit to the island in 1541. The inhabitants’ disappearance has spawned several theories, including devastating wars with the Iroquois tribes to the South or with the Hurons to the West, the impact of Old World diseases, or their migration Westward toward the shores of the Great Lakes. However, according to Archéobec, villages that were regularly abandoned, following a cycle of land exhaustion, would be the main reason. At the time of Samuel de Champlain’s arrival, both Algonquins and Mohawks hunted in the Saint Lawrence Valley and conducted raids, but neither had any permanent settlements. A stone marker recalling the former village was placed in 1925 on land adjacent to McGill University, believed to be in the vicinity of the location of the village visited by Cartier in 1535. The site of the marker is designated a National Historic Site of Canada.

From the Wikipedia entry: Born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1979 Chris Dyer moved to Lima, Peru at age 4. Chris started skateboarding at 8 years old, surfing at 12, and later fan-based gang violence at a local soccer stadium. The name of the gang was "Sepulcro" who were fans of the Universitario de Deportes. Chris’ parents sent him to Canada to study, in 1996, at age 17. He lived in Ottawa with his grandmother, where he attended Heritage College and University of Ottawa. During those years he was a heavy drinker and was very self-destructive. He moved to Montreal in 2000 to study Illustration at Dawson College. In the summer of 2001 he went tree planting which is when he stopped drinking and started the pursuit of a much more spiritual path.He has also studied under (and later taught alongside) visionary masters including Alex Grey, Robert Venosa, Martina Hoffman, Laurence Caruana, A. Andrew Gonzales, Maura Holden, and Amanda Sage. His travels brought him to many countries including Belgium, where he met his wife Valerie Lambert, who he married in 2010. He continues to live off his craft and travel the world exhibiting art, painting murals and teaching workshops.

The alligator in the corner of the mural reminds me a little of Albert Alligator, a character in the classic Pogo comic strip. Created by cartoonist Walt Kelly (1913–1973) and set in the Okefenokee Swamp of the southeastern United States, the strip often engaged in social and political satire through the adventures of its anthropomorphic funny animal characters. Walt Kelly first used the quote "We Have Met The Enemy and He Is Us" on a poster for Earth Day in 1970. The quote was a parody of a message sent in 1813 from U.S. Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to Army General William Henry Harrison after his victory in the Battle of Lake Erie, stating, "We have met the enemy, and they are ours."

The first edition of the MURAL street art festival took place during the summer of 2013 on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, in downtown Montreal. Already a street art hot spot, the boulevard, known here as The Main, went through a major transformation. Twenty street artists from all over the world were invited to create murals of various sizes and styles. Saint-Laurent boulevard used to be a lively artery in Montreal. In the last decade, businesses have been closing and ongoing street repairs have slowed foot traffic. The MURAL festival was organized to rebrand the street, giving it new, bright colors and an effervescent atmosphere that would draw people back. MURAL was founded through a collaboration between artistic marketing agency LNDMRK and the Société de développement du boulevard Saint-Laurent (Saint Lawrence Boulevard Merchants’ Association). With more than 800,000 visitors over four days, both organizations deemed it a success. Aesthetically, the objective was to create an open, outdoor museum. Big names from the international street art scene recruited, such as Escif (Spain), Phlegm (Great Britain) and Pixel Pancho (Italy). Many local artists, including Jason Botkin, Omen, Le Bonnard and Chris Dyer were also invited to make their mark on Montreal’s walls. Twenty building facades were chosen to be covered. Artists were free to design and paint the murals according to their own style and inspiration and they were well supplied with the paint and tools required to create the giant murals. The MURAL festival is poised to become an annual event (rumours has it that a 5 year contract has been signed). Mural painting was the core of the event, but other activities such as body painting, live music and dance troupe shows were also offered to the public.