Commercial Alley 2014: Troy Lovegates

VICTORIA, BC A joint initiative is turning a downtown alley into a place for artistic and creative expression by local artists. The City of Victoria is partnering with Open Space Arts Society to establish a new outdoor art gallery in Commercial Alley, located between the 500 block of Yates Street and Bastion Square.

 

Commercial Alley s rst installation goes up mid-June and consists of a custom-designed, four-panel artwork by renowned street artist Other (a.k.a Troy Lovegates). To be installed on the west wall of the Victoria Youth Empowerment Society, the artwork depicts four patterned, black-and-white gures punctuated by bold red shapes. The expertly executed portraits are characterized by their brooding, emotive faces each with an expression that ranges from the sinister to the somber and forlorn.

 

The artwork was created during Reclaim the Streets: A Symposium on Art and Public Space, which was recently hosted in Victoria by Open Space. The 4 four-by-eight-foot panels will be illuminated in the evening, transforming the alley into a vibrant conduit, day and night. The community will have the opportunity to view the temporary installation until early August, when Other s pieces will be removed to make room for the next featured artist s works.

 

Other (a.k.a. Troy Lovegates) is a nomadic folk artist whose bright paintings cross the globe on the sides of rail cars and appear on walls around the world. He has called many places home, including Montreal, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Toronto, and most recently, San Francisco. When not painting on walls, he turns his brush and pen to discarded books, aged paper, and scavenged wooden objects, rendering patterned portraits of wizened faces as rough and aged as the surfaces they appear on.

 

Open Space invites local artists to submit proposals for the second Commercial Alley installation, which will be showcased from August 9, 2014, to February 15, 2015.