Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
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."
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!
So I decided to reach out to Nick 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. 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 pulled up with his video gear, and then genius editor Scott Baker 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 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?
Let's flip the page to Chapter 144 now...
Learn more about Nick and read the full show notes, go here 👉🏾 3books.co/chapters/144
0:00 Best Street Muralist
1:38 Creating Glow With Spray Paint
6:00 From Galleries To Street Corners
9:37 'Harold and the Purple Crayon'
12:36 Define Your World
16:41 "I Paint Light"
21:19 How Artists Trick Your Eye
23:51 Graffiti Is Defiance
26:24 'The Day of the Triffids'
30:07 Precursor to Zombie Genre
31:28 Do We Owe Others?
36:52 Most Problematic Attitude Humanity Has
37:30 'The World Without Us'
40:21 Cats Are Murderers
43:36 The Damage We've Done
53:00 Become Fascinated With Local Nature
58:49 A Tribute to Impermanence
--
SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/2HHWPYg
Hey there,
I'm Neil and I spend a ton of time thinking, writing, podcasting, and speaking about living intentionally. I'm the New York Times bestselling author of six books including The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. I've been lucky to speak at places like TED, SXSW, and Google. And I host a huge passion project called the 3 Books podcast.
Want more 3 Books? Check out my top interviews with:
Brené Brown youtube.com/watch?v=X5l-Auv7h8Y
Quentin Tarantino youtube.com/watch?v=VVFdvfiPB-w
David Sedaris youtube.com/watch?v=wzz8tqnz1mI
Want to read more of my stuff?
https://www.neil.blog/archive/
Want to check out my podcast?
3books.co
Want to learn about my live events?
globalhappiness.org/speaking
Want my monthly book recos?
1000awesomethings.com/reading-club
Want my articles on intentional living?
https://www.neil.blog/newsletter/
I am also on the following drugs:
Facebook: facebook.com/NeilPasricha
Twitter: twitter.com/neilpasricha
Instagram: instagram.com/neilpasricha
Lastly, thanks so much for watching this vid.
👊,
Neil
neil@globalhappiness.org
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."
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!
So I decided to reach out to Nick 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. 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 pulled up with his video gear, and then genius editor Scott Baker 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 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?
Let's flip the page to Chapter 144 now...
Learn more about Nick and read the full show notes, go here 👉🏾 3books.co/chapters/144
0:00 Best Street Muralist
1:38 Creating Glow With Spray Paint
6:00 From Galleries To Street Corners
9:37 'Harold and the Purple Crayon'
12:36 Define Your World
16:41 "I Paint Light"
21:19 How Artists Trick Your Eye
23:51 Graffiti Is Defiance
26:24 'The Day of the Triffids'
30:07 Precursor to Zombie Genre
31:28 Do We Owe Others?
36:52 Most Problematic Attitude Humanity Has
37:30 'The World Without Us'
40:21 Cats Are Murderers
43:36 The Damage We've Done
53:00 Become Fascinated With Local Nature
58:49 A Tribute to Impermanence
--
SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/2HHWPYg
Hey there,
I'm Neil and I spend a ton of time thinking, writing, podcasting, and speaking about living intentionally. I'm the New York Times bestselling author of six books including The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. I've been lucky to speak at places like TED, SXSW, and Google. And I host a huge passion project called the 3 Books podcast.
Want more 3 Books? Check out my top interviews with:
Brené Brown youtube.com/watch?v=X5l-Auv7h8Y
Quentin Tarantino youtube.com/watch?v=VVFdvfiPB-w
David Sedaris youtube.com/watch?v=wzz8tqnz1mI
Want to read more of my stuff?
https://www.neil.blog/archive/
Want to check out my podcast?
3books.co
Want to learn about my live events?
globalhappiness.org/speaking
Want my monthly book recos?
1000awesomethings.com/reading-club
Want my articles on intentional living?
https://www.neil.blog/newsletter/
I am also on the following drugs:
Facebook: facebook.com/NeilPasricha
Twitter: twitter.com/neilpasricha
Instagram: instagram.com/neilpasricha
Lastly, thanks so much for watching this vid.
👊,
Neil
neil@globalhappiness.org
