Brickman was created by a German abstract group called Inges Idee in 2010, and sits at the corner of Jarvis Street and Adelaide Street East.
Commissioned by Aspen Ridge Homes as part of the City of Toronto Private Developer Percent for Art Program. Brickman is an urban figure, both abstract and figurative blending elements of 19th century history with a contemporary take on monumental sculpture. The sculpture poses questions of human scale and urban development and comments on distinctive architectural materials and features in this historic area.
Plaque at base of brickman
The 8-meter high sculpture depicts a prospectively distorted, anthropomorphic figure made of bricks of ever-diminishing size. The perspective distortion with an extreme vanishing point makes the figure seem expressive and dynamic, and simultaneously larger than it actually is.
Brickman is an abstract “urban figure” that quotes the smokestacks and dynamic of the big city and the grid of the streets surrounding it. It takes up the plunging lines of the rows of high-rises and the vanishing points of the streets that run perfectly straight for miles. It relates to the masonry buildings of the neighbourhood and takes people’s thoughts back to the period of Toronto’s early development.
Never knew about this!
It’s strange… I could have sworn this thing was not there last summer. Either it’s a new addition or I’ve not been observant as I have passed through this area.
If you blink you’ll miss it!