If you ever wonder who the government actually is, take a look under the highway of Toronto. You’ll see there that it is the people, as in We The People, who are holding up the roads in Underpass Park – thanks to Street Artists Labrona and Troy Lovegates (a.k.a. OTHER).

Troy Lovegates in Toronto, Canada. (photo © Labrona)

“OTHER did portraits of local residents and I did a crowd of people,” he tells us of the new spate of painting that measures 180 feet (55 meters) and 83 people. Friends since they were about 8 years old, the guys have each developed solid art careers at least tangentially reflected through their mutual love for graffiti and hopping freights across the massive and wooly North American continent.

Labroba in Toronto, Canada. (photo © Labrona)

So it is no surprise that idiosyncratic figures and their interpersonal dynamics have figured strongly into the distinctly different styles of painting over three and a half decades. Now more often illegal work is turning more often into legal mural work, as in the case of these portraits on these “Legacy Pillars” in Underpass Park, located between Cherry Street and Bayview Avenue, under the Eastern Avenue and Richmond/Adelaide overpasses. That is not to say that they have stopped hopping freights, graffiti gods forbid.

Troy Lovegates and Labroba in Toronto, Canada. (photo © Labrona)

The area itself used to be industrial wasteland where kids like he and Labrona used to hang out, so it is significant to OTHER that the new project is beautifying and that there are shiny new condos nearby.

“I used to come down here for raves in the early 90’s in damp old brick warehouses,” he says on his Facebook post about the project.

He looks at a portrait of a balding chap in a short blue jacket walking with aplomb, eyes cast downward at his route. “I thought I would paint a working class Dude down here in remembrance of what was … a lot of the oldies come for walks to see all the shiny new aluminum condos and duck ponds and to play in the park with their grandchildren.”

Troy Lovegates and Labroba in Toronto, Canada. (photo © Labrona)

Troy Lovegates and Labrona in Toronto, Canada. (photo © Labrona)

Troy Lovegates in Toronto, Canada. (photo © Labrona)

Troy Lovegates and Labrona in Toronto, Canada. (photo © Labrona)

Troy Lovegates and Labrona in Toronto, Canada. (photo © Labrona)

Legacy Pillars from Path TV on Vimeo.

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