Visual Noise: Walls Talk - catchoo

In Episode 7 of Visual Noise: Walls Talk, hosts TRP613 and Urban Ninja sit down with Toronto street artist catchoo, a creator whose colorful characters and positive energy have been making a lasting impression on walls, stickers, wheatpastes, and murals across the city and beyond.

Known for her tagline, "Art That Loves You Back," catchoo has built a unique artistic universe filled with charming, lovable characters that bring warmth and joy to the urban landscape. Whether it's a tiny sticker tucked away on a street sign, a large-scale wheatpaste, or a vibrant mural, her work has a way of surprising people and putting a smile on their face.

During the conversation, catchoo shares her journey into street art, the inspiration behind her instantly recognizable characters, and how she balances creating playful artwork while navigating the realities of being an artist in public spaces. The discussion explores the power of positivity in street art and how small moments of unexpected creativity can brighten someone's day.

TRP613 and Urban Ninja dive into catchoo's creative process, her experiences working in multiple mediums, and the importance of building connections through art. The episode highlights how her work stands apart in a scene often dominated by bold lettering and aggressive styles, proving that kindness and cuteness can make just as much impact on the streets.

From stickers and wheatpastes to murals and beyond, catchoo's art serves as a reminder that public art doesn't just occupy space—it creates relationships. Her mission is simple: make art that gives something back to the people who encounter it.

Tune in to Episode 7 of Visual Noise: Walls Talk for an inspiring conversation with one of Toronto's most uplifting street artists and discover why catchoo's creations truly are Art That Loves You Back.

Music credit:

“Funk Groove Music” by Alex Gus via Pixabay

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:08

What's up everybody? Welcome to our podcast, Visual Noise Walls Talk, Ninja and Trip here. What's up, Ninja? Yo, yo, what's up? Good to see you. You too, you too. So uh what we do here is we talk to artists, uh specifically street artists. So welcome to the show. Uh today we have Catchu. What's up, Catchu?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Hey, what's up? How's it going?

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Good, good. I'm glad you're here.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

So, um, for the people that don't know you, Catchu, tell us a little bit about you, what you do, where you're from.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

I'm from Toronto, uh, based out of Toronto. Um, I do a lot of street art, fine art. Uh the uh the street art includes stickers, wheat paste, uh spray painting, graffiti, mainly around uh Ontario. Uh have done a couple spots in in Montreal, uh, the one time up in Ottawa, House and Paint.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Yep. That was House of Paint.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

That's kind of fun, kind of got canceled, but whatever.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Um have you have any interest in recent street artists that are out today? Like, is there anyone?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Actually, I got a bunch of books, uh street artist books, um, a whole pile of them. I'm still going through them. Um, I can't remember any of the names, but I'm just kind of going through the books right now. So um there's a lot of new artists that I've been noticing and and seeing. And um so I I don't have one specific in mind. You know, there's just so many out there that I I I I I still have to come across.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

So um in these books, have you liked an artist and then you go, I want to find this person on Instagram or whatever and try to hunt them down? Or you just leave it at that and just go, oh, I like his work. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

It's pretty much, yeah. I I I like this person's work, more interested about um uh or this person. Um, but uh I haven't really reached out to anybody yet. Um and you know, just gathering inspiration more or less for um the spray painting, which I'm uh relatively new at doing. I had been in it for a couple years now, but um it's it's something that uh is more recent to me.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

It's a very different uh you know medium to use, you know. Like I know a lot of fine art painters and stuff like that, like are like fuck that. I would never touch a spray can. So it's I think it's intimidating for some people, but um it's hella fun.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

It it it's uh it's a great tool to use. The learning curve is huge on that, and so it's it's really learning how can I apply my art style to that's gonna translate well on the street, different kind of canvases, you know, from brick to concrete to you know, siding or metal, you know, garage door, whatever it is that you know, there's that element of that, uh, the elements of uh the outdoor elements. Um, there's just so many factors to consider aside from stickers.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

I I always find like I have to step back from it because you know, when you're looking at a mural, you're never like on top of it when you're painting. So a lot of times I'll take like 10 steps back and go, okay, it's not, you know, that fuzzy line or whatever, you don't really see it, you know. Like you have to, I that's what I find. At least it helps me kind of let go a little bit from being that like perfectionist and every line has to be perfect.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

You can get lost in the details, but uh sometimes the details don't matter as much because most people are looking at it from a distance.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

So yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

So what was your kind of like fuck it? I'm doing this moment with street art?

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Uh in terms of stickers?

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Well, anything, just how how like how did you get to the point where you're like, I'm gonna do street art and not go the fine art route that so many people go or sculptural or whatever? Like, what was it that made you go, like, I want to do street art?

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Well, uh, I have always loved stickers ever since I was a kid. Like, stickers was my thing. And I started going downtown a few years ago around COVID, you know, near the the end of it, and like really noticing stickers on the post box offices and on the on the back of street signs and stuff. And that really made me curious. Like, who would do these things? Why are they doing this? What is the story behind it? You know, it never occurred to me to put stickers up on the street before. Like, I have so much, so so many stickers. Can we ever have too many stickers? I don't know, but no, right? Yeah, um, but uh yeah, because I had so many, I was like, this is just a great idea, just to get stickers out there. And I mean, part of the fun is actually applying them and then finding good spots, making uh a collage out of them or something like that. And so that I think was a big eye-opener to actually see them on the street. And then I'm like, well, I can do this too. This is so much fun, and it's it's addictive, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

I and I think everyone loves stickers, and I was the same. Like my very first car, I bought all these um glow-in-the-dark stickers, like stars, and I put them on my ceiling, so at nighttime it would like you know, be all these stars and like ridiculous, cheesy, like so cheesy. But uh, I always loved them too, you know, and it's similar. Like I would see them and just you know, and then connecting with the community, and the community is so engaging and so like helpful, and everyone wants to help everyone, and you know, you can send stickers all over the world, and people put them up, and it's just like it's a very cool community.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Absolutely. The community part for it came afterwards for me getting on um Instagram, meeting people. One of the first collabs I did was with you trip. Um that was uh, you know, it was very nice, you know, and and welcoming of the community, like you said. And it says, and I'm like, oh, you know, these maybe these are my people, the you know, people who actually love stickers as much as I do, which is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

And then it kind of evolved from there, right? Then you start doing weed pasting, which is to me, I I see it as a um a big sticker, right? You're still applying adhesive and you know, finding different spots for it, and then you know, you you you go and you start tagging and start playing with spray paint, and is it's just been kind of a natural evolution from there.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Stickers are like a gateway drug into weed pasting, murals, graffiti. You know what I mean? It's that it's that intro where anyone can go to the dollar store, buy a sheet, scribble some shit on it, whatever, you know, draw a character, and then you go out, and then you go, Oh, this is fucking cool. And then I'm gonna bigger and bigger and bigger, and then you know it kind of blows up from there.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Yeah, I like that the gateway drug into the art.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah, it definitely is because it's so easy and personal, right? Like it's in your pocket, you could just put it up. While if you're reed pasting and like doing spray paint, you have to kind of carry it and like in a bag, and you have to plan for it a little bit more, right? Definitely, definitely for sure. How do you feel when uh someone covers your art on the streets?

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Someone's angry, someone doesn't like love.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Do you find it like it's a personal thing?

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Like no, I mean, there's enough room for everybody. Like if it's another sticker person, it's like, uh, you know, I mean, there's enough room for everybody, you know, there's no need for that. You can't really take it personally. Like, you know, who you don't know who this person is, what can you do? You know, my my mentality is like, hey, I've got more, I've always got more.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Awesome. Exponential. That's why I say it's exponential. One goes down, two go up, two go down, four go up. Like that's right. Sticker people or psychos.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

It's like, you know, you go back and you maintain spots, and you know, you see that they've been taken down or whatever, and you go back and you just put more up.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Are there any um past artists, you know, like from 50, 100, 200 years ago that you know, kind of you came across and they really resonated with you and maybe, you know, helped you with your um progression as an artist? Like, so for example, uh, SketchRey was talking about Picasso and how he kind of drew these faces in three different ways. Uh, my example is like Duchamp, where he took a urinal and was just like, I'm an artist and this is art. Um, you know, and and it could be pop art, it could be uh dogma talked about, uh surrealist. Um, you know, so is there anyone from back in the day that you really, you know, try to incorporate or, you know, I don't know, anything?

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Uh yeah, my my art history uh doesn't uh go that deep. Uh it doesn't go way back. I, you know, have always been influenced by um the uh cartoons, comics, um, more contemporary art. Really a big eye-opener was Takashi Murakami. When I visited Japan, that was like, oh my god, this is you know, next level. The earliest it like I guess influence or or or artists that have have really made an impression would be people like like Dali or something like that. But I mean, you know, it's it's not real art history, Picasso, Leonardo, or you know, like Monet. It's it's it's it's more recent years. Yeah, yeah, modern. Yeah, modern, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Yeah, like I I really like uh Renee Magreet. Like he's the the the surrealist, like he's one my favorite surrealist, you know what I mean? It's very subtle, like something is off. It's not too like crazy like Dolly, even though Dolly's cool, but I just find Dolly's a little much at times. I just think uh Magrit was just very there's something, you know. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so uh how do you um like what do you think of uh what people feel when they see your work on the streets?

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Well, I hope they like it. I mean I mean to me, it doesn't really matter, you know. I mean, I in a general sense, is it for them? I don't know, you know. I mean, I hope it it it makes somebody smile and brightens up their day or or whatever, but love it or not, you can look away. Or, you know, part of the fun is like, do you even notice them? I'm sure before, if I hadn't noticed or, you know, people would walk by all the time, not even paying attention, there's just so into their own world or or whatever. It's only if you're pointed out to it that you would, you know, start um seeing things or being more aware of uh, you know, your surroundings and things like that. So somewhat affects me, but not really.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

I think your work really, you know, for me, it's like love and positivity and fun and you know, similar to Ninja and I with the character. I think it's just like you want people to laugh and smile and go, oh yeah, that's better than a gray wall and or the back of a sign. And I think it's just fun. And I find when I meet people, you know, I'm always wearing my you know, my Sailor Dude shit, and somebody'll be like, oh, like, you know, that, you know, I think I've seen that before, and then I'll see them again. They'll be like, Holy shit, I see that everywhere. Yeah, and and because it's just they've had this like awakening of like, because I'll be like, just look around, you know, you'll you'll see it. And then they have that awakening and they, you know, and they appreciate it. And they're oh, okay, cool. Like, I like that.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

And who knows, you know, people that uh come across it just like I have one day, or you know, or any of our work really would uh be questioning like who would do such a thing? Why are they doing this? What are they trying to say? What is their message, you know, and and actually make them consider or or think about, you know, the story behind it or what is the meaning of this.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Well, it's hard for people to understand too that aren't in the scene, you know, like they don't. I tell my parents and my parents are both artists and they're you know pretty chill. Ninjas met my parents, he stayed with them when he came to Ottawa. Um, but you know, they don't totally get it, you know. Like they're like, you just why do you put stickers up? And what the, you know, what the fuck? Like, you know, don't you have something else to do? And I'm like, yeah, like I could be doing drugs and getting drunk and doing like, you know, crazy shit, but I'm just kind of like doing mild vandalism, you know, it's like, you know, and it yeah, and it's my drug of choice, right? Like I don't weed or drink or anything anymore, I just put up stickers.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

You know, even if I'm I'm not going out purposely to do street art, uh, you're you're going to do an errand or or you're meeting up with a friend, you just put up one and like, oh, that feels so much better.

SPEAKER_02 13:02

Fucking right.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

I got one done.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Yes, yeah, it's a habit. And Ninja talked about that. It's this habit of every day, you're putting one up, you're putting a hundred up, you're painting a mural, like whatever it is. Just anytime you go out, you go on vacation, you're walking with your kids somewhere, it's always you always have stickers on you. Definitely. I I always do for sure. I do too. I do. I mean, it's you know, and I always pull out like this huge wad, and people are like, Oh, do you have any stickers? I'm like, Yeah, and I just like pull out this and they're like, What the fuck? Like they look at me just look, and I'm like, I know it's a lot, you know. And you give them the 12-inch ones, you go, here, put this look up for me. This is bigger than your face. Have you had any um have you had any like close calls while you were putting up stickers with police, with security guards, with people yelling at you? Anything, any fun stories you could share with us?

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Uh, we were putting up wheat paste in Kensington Market up on top of uh uh a parking garage, and the security guard did come and have a talking with us. It was nice about it. I'm just like, oh just just one more, and then finished it up, and then we left. So other than that, I've never been booked for uh stickering.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

That's good. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty low-key. I have a funny story. I was with um Spore Art and Canakilla in Ottawa, which is years and years ago, and we were pasting this wall, and this guy comes up, he goes, ah, you know, you can't paste there. Off the top of my head, I was just like, Oh no, no, we work for the city, uh, we're in this beautification project, you know, we're paid to do this. He goes, Oh, fuck, okay, yeah, awesome. Like, that's great, keep going. And I remember Spore Art and Canikilla just like give me this look, like, what the fuck just happened? And we just kept going, and you know, it was like we're just laughing her asses off. It was great. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Yeah, so uh, how do you define success as a street artist?

SPEAKER_00 14:55

The ones that are successful are the ones that get up the most, the ones that are recognized. You know, you have to be prolific about it. You know, if you uh meet someone on the on the street or something and they say, Oh, I recognize that, I've seen that before. That that's a little bit of a success, right? To be noticed, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

Totally. I agree with that.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

If you can book a gig from your street art, I guess that would be kind of success too. For example, you know, I saw a sticker of yours one day. You wanna paint a mirror for me? I don't know. It hasn't happened yet, but I mean it will, yeah, it's coming. It will come.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

Yeah, yeah. Um, are there any like what's one myth about street artists that you think is just false? And I can give you an example. Um, I always find like people think I'm like, you know, dressed in black and I have a fucking mask over my face and I'm creeping around at nighttime. And I'm like, no, I'm like on my way to work at like 8:30 in the morning and I get out and I throw up some stickers or I go for a walk at lunchtime, or you know, like I go to bed early, and I always find that's like one myth of people are always like, aren't you worried? You're at nighttime. I'm like, no, I do it during the day. It you know, it just makes it seem like I should be there, you know. So there are any other myths that you feel like you know people misjudge about street artists?

SPEAKER_00 16:11

It kind of goes back to the the previous question of uh being a successful street artist. It's like I don't know if if that's the goal in mind, like you know, if someone was gonna start, oh, I'm I'm going to uh make a career out of putting up stickers and making a ton of money out of stickers. It's uh it's really not like that. I mean, it's a money-losing affair, if anything. And you know, you really just have to do it for the love of it. Um, and just for the fun of it. It's it's I I'm sure, you know, I mean, it's it's happened to somebody like Obey, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

I but uh few and far between for sure. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

I and I think that's like uh only one of a few that ever has been like really successful from stickers.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Yeah, yeah, no, I I agree. You're not in it for the fame, you're in it because you love it and it's your passion. Yeah, yeah, definitely for sure.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

I like I like kind of, I mean, you know, I'll I'll post the stickers and stuff like that, and you know, but uh I think it's uh kind of uh nice to have the the sticker be the thing that faces the world, like you know, for you ninja it's a ninja and you for it's a so sailor dude, it's not like we're putting up our actual faces um trying to achieve fame or like I want people to recognize me on the street, so I'm gonna put my face up everywhere. We're kind of behind it, which is is is is kind of nice.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Who was the the first street artist that you've met, like in person?

SPEAKER_00 17:50

I think it would have been probably Brujo.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Really?

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Yeah, yeah. He was one of the stickers that I had seen uh out on the streets, and uh, you know, I had uh um a pop-up happening. Uh he had come by, uh, he he bought a shirt, which I thought was great. And then from there he was like, Yeah, we're going out uh, you know, uh stickering wheat pasting. You know, you want to come out with us. And that was uh within the next week or so after that first meeting, and that's where I met you, Ninja, uh and and like the whole Cubella I met that night, two soap ghosts I met, life. Oh, yeah. Um I think code was there, but uh yeah, Average Joe is there. It was underneath the uh St. Clair Bridge there. And that's when I met like a whole slew of you guys, and that was just that was that was great. It was a very memorable uh outing, and that was like wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yes, I do remember that. That was that was a good time for sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

What's um what's one thing you'd never paint or put a sticker on, you know? Is there anything out there that you're like, I I would never paint that or put a sticker on it?

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Well, I mean, I try to avoid other people's stickers, uh, you know, or you know, you're mindful of uh other people's artwork and things like that, respect the space. And again, there's so much space out there, you know, and it's also good to have a variety of sizes because then if you really, really wanted to put something up there, I've got some small ones or you know, something like that. And we've got our big ones too, if if you know the the real estate allows for it.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

So there's yeah, I was thinking like, you know, I would never put a you know, I'd never paint a tree or like uh like a giant rock, like nature wise. I feel weird about painting on nature stuff. Yeah. Uh, you know, I wouldn't put a sticker on a cop car. Uh, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Dare me. I would, I try.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Yeah, I mean, I would love to, but also the idea of then, you know, being on the radar uh is not probably ideal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

So like I know some people they don't like on churches, uh schools, community centers, and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Can I tell a funny story? So Ninja came, I think it was the first time we met. I went and picked him up, uh, and we just like cruised around Ottawa. Like, I was just like, let's do this spot, this spot, this spot. And we hit a church uh dumpster. Dumpster. Uh, it was a dumpster, you know, like very, you know, whatever dumpster, but it had a great backdrop. Um, and I remember getting a message on Instagram, and the guy was someone was like pissed. He was like, How dare you like tag the church? And I was like, Well, actually, it was a dumpster beside the church. Like, I'm like, I'm we didn't actually put anything on the church. Uh you remember that, Ninja. But uh, I remember, you know, silly, you know, silly, silly stories like that. That that was a great time because um, you know, both our wives thought we were gonna murder each other, yeah. Uh, because it was just like this random meetup, like, you know, 10-ish years ago. Um, but I I feel like we we just like annihilated the city. It was just like we jumped in my car, we went here, here, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and we, you know, we hit a bunch of spots.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yeah, that was an epic time for sure. Definitely. I remember that. Yeah. Like you just like, okay, I know these spots, let's hit it now. And we just like boom, boom, boom, go to another spot, boom, boom, boom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

I think I had like a list on my phone. I used to keep like this list on my phone and I would see like a box, and I'd be like, okay, the corner of Carling and Broadview. And then I'd, you know, keep this list because like I want to like make my time like super, as you know, Cacho, you have kids, and you know, your time is so precious. So I just wanted to have like when I would go out, I would have this list and I go, okay, I'm gonna hit here, here, here, here, and kind of uh and go out and hit spots. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

If I uh drive by spots, I'll take a quick photo because it'll tag the location. Yeah, and then I I save it to my hit list spot.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Oh, nice. I love it. Yeah, because the geotag, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

Is there maybe one last question? Um, you know, when it's all said and done, what do you want your work to leave behind besides paint on a wall and sticker on a sign? Like what is your your message? What do you want to kind of leave behind?

SPEAKER_00 22:08

You know, it's it's all impermanent at the end of the day. It's here for a time. You know, we hear people who have been uh stickering for a long time, you know, for years and years and years, and then they just stop. Um eventually street art fades away, it'll get covered, you know, wheat paste will fade and and and signs will come and go. You know, if I'm here for the moment uh having fun doing it, it's something that uh maybe will just be remembered for a specific time period or or or or whatever it is. Uh you can't really protect the street art. I mean, you're there for the moment, you you do it for the love of it. It's your experience, it's your joy. Hey, if you we uh pass away someday and it's gonna be worth millions of dollars and somebody wants to cut it out and preserve it, you know, go for it.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah, there's nothing you can do about that.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

No, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yeah, it's like with these artists who just like were poor their whole lives, and once they die, the you know, the estate makes money, you know. It's it's very sad. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

Any any last words? Any, you know, sketch rad said uh stay sticky. Yes. Uh we have any last words. What dogma said slap slab? Any last words for the audience?

SPEAKER_00 23:30

I I I really I mean, usually I just like to say let's stick together.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Oh, that's true. You did use that. That is beautiful, beautiful. Well, thank you so much for uh coming on our show. Uh and I you know really appreciate it. Yeah, this is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Um Thank you so much for having me. And so when are we gonna go out again?

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Uh yes, we should. We should soon, definitely. Now that the weather is getting better, yes, definitely going out.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Exactly. Finally, it's been a long winter.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Oh, it has. The worst. The worst. Canada!

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Well, thanks for uh joining us on our uh visual noise wall talk podcast and uh you know get out there and throw some stickers out. Nice peace, peace catch up by