An elephant has appeared on an old sign in Stratford. What's up with that?
CBC
When artist Christopher Griffin sees an empty space, he sees potential.
That's what happened when he was on Prince Edward Island recently, visiting a friend.
Griffin saw a big piece of plywood on a signpost near the corner of Stratford Road and the Trans-Canada Highway.
Naturally, he decided to paint an elephant on it.
"It just seemed to look neglected and it looked like it had potential to make a nice little visual piece," he said.
Griffin is a well-known Ottawa artist and sculptor, who displays his work indoors and out. Many of his public art pieces can be seen around the nation's capital — including a pair of large falcons perched on a bridge over a busy highway.
But he plans to move to P.E.I. and open a studio here this fall.
Griffin said when he saw the plywood sign in Stratford, he knew an elephant was a good fit.
"I love elephants. Most people love elephants. I love whales. It's easily recognizable and it fits the space," Griffin said.
Griffin created the work with a paint roller during the daylight hours.
"I mean, I'm doing it without permission. And I'm technically doing graffiti, so I do it in the daytime because I'm not hiding. I'm not trying to do it on the sly. I'm out in the open. And if someone is going to be upset with me or charge me or whatever, I'm willing to take the repercussions," he said.
"I know I'm skirting a fine line there, but that's that's my rationale."
Griffin said his own art studio was tagged with graffiti six years ago. Without touching the tag itself, he turned it into a blue pony.
"That got me all on this whole journey of transforming other graffiti and really analyzing what public marks are and what public spaces are," he said.