A familiar face made an unexpected appearance on a local radio station’s billboard Thursday night.
The ad – on Archibald Street just north of Mission Street – is promoting Power 97’s morning show featuring hosts Philly, Joe and Kirby… but in place of Philly’s face is the image of a notoriously hard-to-find cartoon.
Waldo, the star of Martin Handford’s 1980s and ’90s ‘Where’s Waldo’ series of children’s books, has been appearing throughout the city over the past few years, with the Power 97 billboard being the most recent ‘victim’ of an anonymous street artist’s latest work.
‘Winnipeg Waldo‘, who keeps his true identity secret, told 680 CJOB that he got started hiding Waldo-themed art around town in spring 2017 as a way to get out of the doldrums.
“I had a regular job, and I just got to the point where I thought I wanted to do something else that isn’t just going to work, coming home, going to sleep… I wanted something else. Something fun.
“It kind of just started with very small stickers and once I got bored with that, I kind of moved on to different materials and different sizes and different looks,” he said.
“It’s been ramping up since then.”
Waldos have appeared across Winnipeg, painted on paper, cardboard, wood, tiles, and a variety of other media, often with specialized themes.
There have been Waldo-ized portraits of Winnipeg Jets stars like Patrik Laine, a Golden Boy Waldo, and even a 2018 art show at a local bar, featuring dozens of local artists taking on the character.
The Waldos have become highly sought-after, with many fans taking the images home. The artist, however, said he’d rather see the pieces stay up in perpetuity.
“The ideal situation is that I would put one up and lots of people would see it,” he said.
“They’d walk past it, take pictures, and leave it there for everyone to see. There’s a big debate out there. A lot of people are under the impression they’re supposed to take them, keep them, and some people think they’re supposed to leave them there.
“Ideally, I’d love it if everybody left them there, because I’d love to be a city where anywhere you are, within one minute, there’d be some Waldo to be found.”
The artist said he gravitated toward the character because he’s instantly associated with ‘being found’ in many people’s minds, and spotting one Waldo implies there are many more out there to discover.
“I always kind of find places my eyes are drawn to,” he said. “Nicely-framed empty spaces. Somewhere if I were walking or driving, my eyes would be attracted to.
“Winnipeg is in real need of this stuff, and people are really starving for this kind of street art.”
As for the Power 97 DJ who had his face covered by the iconic image, he won’t be asking for the cartoon to come down anytime soon.
“Some people have pointed out it doesn’t really look much different from me,” said Philly. “Some people have said it looks better! We want it to stay there.
“What’s the story here? Who defaced our billboard? It’s hilarious. I don’t know why, but we love it.”
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