HomeCultureAll hail the googlies: Toronto’s wide-eyed street critters are a real hit

All hail the googlies: Toronto’s wide-eyed street critters are a real hit

A garbage can with fangs and bulging eyes. A morose parking meter with a handlebar moustache. A seemingly demented bike rack that looks like it could use some dental work. Yes, for anyone making their journey home after a late night recently, the city may have seemed a confounding and disturbing place. In the light of day, however, one may notice that the creatures popping up around the downtown core are more amusing than frightful.

These little street monsters are the work of one Aiden Glynn, a local animator who has turned the streets of Toronto into his own personal canvas.

Glynn grew up in Milton, Ont., and his father was an animator who encouraged his son to cultivate his own artistic talents (he attended Sheridan College for animation). Glynn also drew inspiration for his street art by following the work of artists such as Banksy.

When asked what inspired his street monsters, Glynn explains that, in his line of work, he is accustomed to drawing cartoons all day, so seeing faces and personalities in inanimate objects isn’t much of a stretch.

He writes in his blog: “It’s so funny to see that by adding eyes and teeth to an object it instantly gives them so much character.”

Glynn started off three years ago by Photoshopping his street art ideas onto pictures from around the city, and he received so much feedback telling him to take his vision to the streets that he decided to start making his Photoshopped pieces a reality.

Some of his best-known outdoor projects downtown have included Nintendo-themed foam and stick-on animations, as well as strategically placed speech bubbles, but Glynn claims that his most recent project, his “street monsters,” is his favourite.

Up to this point, Glynn has stuck to using materials that are less permanent than, say, spray paint, so he hasn’t gotten much negative feedback on his monsters, yet.

“Some people want to know why a 30-year-old guy is making characters around the city, but for the most part, people seem to like them,” he says.

We do too.

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