Toye - The Vitals:

Age:
twenty something - I don’t really keep track -
Hometown:
I grew up in waterloo, ontario. It’s in the canada.
Where
do you now live?: Toronto Ontario, in the Canada, land of beavers
/>How long have you been creating street art?: more than five
years.
What did you do last night?: unwound from a long
weekend of work
What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner?:
Food that I didn’t pay for, or - food that I treat everyone to. Pie for
dessert.
Who is your favorite fictional character?:
Totoro
What do you currently have in your pockets?:
nothing - I just put on these pants….
If you were given
“more time,” what would you do with it?: I would spend it on my
personal health and mental health. Meditation, exercise, eat balanced meals. At
the rate I’m going, my body is already startting to do weird things like i’m
forty…
Who do you love?: my freinds who work hard, and
my family.

Toye - The A’s to Our Q’s:

Wooster: How did you get
started in creating art for the street?

Toye: I
starting hanging out with this guy ‘donse’ (GNF crew, SM). He was from london
ontario, where there was a healthy graff scene at the time. He then moved to my
hometown when I was in highschool. We met in highschool, and he inspired a bunch
of my freinds to start painting, including myself. Donse called himself Donsee
- he said ‘because you don’tsee me when I’m painting” - only what’s left behind.
I used to look up to graff when I was in high school, but I never really saw
myself as a graff dude, so I decided to call myself toye. I also felt by
embracing the graff slang for ‘loser’ or ‘tool’ I would be part of the graff
scene, but also outside of it. Now, I’m glad I’m outside of the politics of
graff. In Toronto, there is a healthy scene of cooler than the other guy graff
heads. I’m really tired of that style of thinking.

Wooster:
How would you describe your style?

Toye:
like a toy.

Wooster: What other street artists do
you most admire and why?

Toye: everybody likes
twist. I think the main reason I was so infuenced by him was that 6 or 7 years
ago, when I first started looking at graff on the net - Twist’s stuff was the
only real character driven stuff that I could find on the web. Then as more
books came out about street art, it was easier to start getting influences. In
Toronto - I’ve alway’s admired Rockey Dobey - he put up over 300 small metal
sculptures over the past 5 or more years, and they are mostly still up. His
stuff stems from traditional printmaking and etching, and has no real graff
influences.

Wooster: What’s your favorite city,
neighborhood, or block, to post and/or to see street art?

/>Toye: I haven’t travelled that much. I liked New York,
especially on the way to PS1 there’s that building all covered in graff 4 or 5
stories high. crazy! But last time I was there I heard it was hard to get up now
because of a lot of undercover cops. Toronto’s ok - it’s easy to get up and not
get caught, becasue winter kills half the season. I guess my fav. thing to do is
to paint murals over bad bombs illegally in broad daylight. I’ve done this five
times now, and each time it seems to get easier. It’s really interesting to see
how people’s perception of what an illegal mural is: a) spray paint - ohhh the
devils art tool.. b) ‘graffiti’ style letters and c) night time - the general
public thinks illegal things are done at night time, not during regular business
hours. I’ve had cops come up to me and tell me I’m doing a great job, when I
have no permission, and I’m essentially breaking the law. Oh it also helps to
have drop cloths and a ladder.

Wooster: What
inspires you now?

Toye: Cute things from Japan. The
Idea that my freinds are sucsessfull at what they do. The collective I’m in -
thoughtcrimez. We recently hung a show and it was great - check it out at href="http://www.thoughtcrimez.com">www.thoughtcrimez.com - we have another
February 20th in Toronto.

Wooster: What are you
currently working on?  Can you give us a sneak peek?

/>Toye:  I’m working on my new website, so people can see what
I’ve been up to. I’m also working on more sculptures I hope. And you know….
stuff. . . .