Chapter 144: Nick Sweetman on breaking boundaries with brilliant birds

Jan 13, 2025

Nick Sweetman, a prominent Toronto graffiti artist, shares his journey from traditional art to community-focused murals of wildlife. He discusses his creative process in bringing vibrant portrayals of birds and pollinators to life, highlighting the emotional connection between art and nature. Sweetman also touches on the transformative power of imagination, drawing inspiration from childhood literature. The conversation dives into the balance of artistic integrity amidst corporate pressures and the importance of wildlife conservation within urban settings.

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ANECDOTE

Discovering Sweetman's Art

Neil Pasricha discovered Nick Sweetman's art while walking with a friend.
He realized he'd seen Sweetman's work throughout Toronto, including a whale shark mural.

INSIGHT

From Gallery to Street Art

Nick Sweetman transitioned from gallery art to street art.
He felt disconnected from regular people in the gallery world.

ANECDOTE

Early Graffiti Days

Sweetman started spray painting at 20, both legally and illegally.
He initially tagged his name but found it mediocre, shifting to more elaborate pieces around 2004.

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Nick Sweetman is one of Toronto's most prominent graffiti artists.

Last February I was walking down Lansdowne Avenue in Toronto with my friend Michael Bungay Stanier, who was our guest back in Chapter 48, and as we strolled under a giant bridge I saw a giant ... well, it looked like a photo! But it wasn't a photo. It was a massive spray-painted image of a Hooded Merganser, and at the very bottom corner was a signature that said "Nick Sweetman."

Looks like a photo, right? Look at that eye! That bill! But I discovered there's this Toronto mural artist named Nick Sweetman and turns out I've seen the guy's stuff all over the place. He paints pollinators, birds, insects, and animals of all kinds...

He painted a whale shark I've ridden by on my bike for years without knowing it was him! Squint and you'll see the 'Sweetman' underneath its cavernous mouth.

So I decided to reach out to Nick Sweetman and ask him about doing a unique partnership with me and 3 Books. He was game! We found a 750 square foot brutalist bare concrete wall behind a subway station in Toronto begging to be beautified. And now 11 months later I am very proud to present...

After I spent six months getting approvals from the Toronto Transit Commission (shoutout to Cameron Penman, David Nagler, Kerry-Ann Campbell, and Councillor Dianne Saxxe!), Nick started painting the wall behind Dupont Station on September 17th, 2024 (my birthday!) and finished it up on November 1st.

What resulted is honestly the most beautiful piece of public art I have ever seen. I know I'm birdy biased but Nick's beauty, his eye, his senses—they just know no bounds. He doesn't use stencils! He's not tracing anything! The guy is literally just looking at a dirty, bare, curved 750-square-foot wall and, NO BIGGIE painting 16 HYPERREALISTIC LOCAL BIRDS ON IT!

Over the six weeks of painting I pulled out my recorder many times, Nick's friend and fellow graffiti artist Blaze Wiradharma (@blazeworks) pulled up with his video gear, and then genius editor Scott Baker (@adjacentp) rolled in to edit our first-ever 3 Books audio-video documentary experience.

Listen! Watch! Be amazed by the wonder of Nick Sweetman! We explore questions like: Why did Nick leave the wine drinking art gallery world for dirty street corners? What do people who have owe to people who don't? How do we see the crustaceans in our parking lot? And ... do we still have a shared reality?

We talk about mural painting, graffiti, street art, what it means to live in a world where humans overtake everything and, of course, Nick's 3 most formative books. We even get a live splice of Leslie teasing out his third book in real-time which is pretty special!

I highly recommend you WATCH this chapter if you can as we put so much heart and soul into making Nick's masterpiece come to breathtaking visual life.

But, of course, as we flip the page to Chapter 144, you can always just listen in on Apple or Spotify, too.