Towering public tribute to Audrey Hepburn looks to uplift St. Thomas with 'depth and beauty'

A Windsor, Ont., graffiti artistwhose work has been featuredprominently on streetscapes in some of the most fascinating cities in the world is tackling his most ambitious project yet a 25-metre-tall mural on a former train bridge in St. Thomas, Ont.

The latest creation by Daniel Bombardier, who also goes by the name Denial, offers a nostalgic twist on the 1957 Audrey Hepburn classic Love in the Afternoon.

He's no stranger tobeing commissioned tomakepublic art in communitieswith rich industrial history.

"It's ripe for the picking," he said of cities like St. Thomas that have apost-industrial landscape. "You find lots of these blank canvasses in those areas."

As a city that's seen two industrial heydays come and go (first the railroad, then auto manufacturing), St. Thomas has a lot to work with in terms of canvasses. It's why Bombardier is among a dozen artists commissioned by the city for the ongoing Track the Future mural project, one he hopes will add "depth and beauty" to help uplift the community.

"People are recognizing how powerful it is because that's what the energy of young people and creativity is. It's very, very powerful. To be able to do that and make a living from that is a beautiful marriage, in my opinion."

The message behind the mural

WATCH | Graffiti artist Daniel Bombardier on his25-metre-tall tribute to a 1957 Audrey Hepburn movie:

The message behind a massive mural in St. Thomas

2 years ago

Duration 0:53

Graffiti artist Daniel Bombardier on his latest work: a 25-metre tall tribute to a 1957 Audrey Hepburn movie with a 21st-century twist.

Bombardier's Hepburn-inspired mural will be part of the St. Thomas Elevated Park. Now part of the Trans Canada Trail, the park was once the Western Michigan Central Railroad Kettle Creek Bridge, which has towered almost 30 metres over the western edge of the city like a Goliath since 1929.

One of its most prominent pillars has become Bombardier's canvas the biggest he's ever worked with. So far, he's used 30 gallons (136 litres) of paint to prime and add background colour to the work, and expects to go through 300 cans of spray paint by the time the mural is complete.

"I have about 100 left to go," he said, adding it will take another five gallons (23 litres) of a special clear coat to help weatherproof the mural, so that it lasts another25 years.

"It should be here 25 to 50 years, and we can always come back and touch it up too."