Have you spotted these cartoon face traffic cones around Montreal? (PHOTOS)
If you’ve seen cartoon-like traffic cones in Montreal, fear not. You’re not hallucinating, nor seeing any animated characters from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
You’re witnesses art.
Valid, a street artist who’s lived in Montreal since 2008, decorates art across the city by placing cartoon facial expressions on orange traffic cones.
“We all know how it is living in Montreal — the cone capital of the world,” Valid tells Daily Hive. “No matter what season it is, it seems Montreal is ALWAYS under construction, and it can be frustrating.”
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The artist — who says she’s been bringing the city’s iconic orange cones to life for over a year — says she wanted to “change people’s attitudes” about cones and construction, which feels constant across the island. “Instead of being frustrated while stuck in a traffic jam, maybe they’d get to see one of my cones instead, and it would totally change their mood. I know it would for me.”
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Valid says she was struggling with depression last year and her traffic cone project helped to get out and make a mission to bring smiles to people’s faces. “We need more of that,” she says.
She says her artist, named Valid, corresponds with people’s emotions. “I want people to know their feelings are valid, no matter the emotion.”
Speaking of emotions, Valid has appropriately named her cartoon cones “emoticones.”
Her process involves what she calls “cone swaps,” swapping out the cones she wants to add faces to, with ones in construction sites. “I keep my eyes out for cones in good locations and then swap them out for mine at night,” she admits.
Montrealers know there certainly are plenty of cones to go around.
Check out more of Valid’s artwork and traffic cone process on her Instagram page.
And if you’re ever feeling bumped out about Montreal’s constant construction, know that some of the traffic cones are too.
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