The artist known as birdO took his street-art aesthetic and transformed it into his first monumental sculpture for the garden podium, an urban oasis above 150 York Street/181 University Avenue. His vibrant hybrid of animal forms and abstraction rose above the trees and brought the secluded space alive with a playful sculpture.
For this piece, the artist was inspired by the Kirtland’s Warbler, a small songbird that nearly became extinct just 50 years ago and is now on it’s way to recovery. Requiring large areas of dense young jack pine that was historically created by wildfire, today this habitat is primarily created through the harvest of mature jack pine, and planting of seedlings. For Nuit Blanche in Toronto birdO has transformed the image of this tiny creature into an epic sculpture, rising out of an abstract base. The 40ft high inflatable loomed large over the downtown core.