Download or read book Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes written by Michael Cho and published by Drawn and Quarterly. This book was released on 2012-06-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TORONTO'S HIDDEN PASSAGEWAYS BROUGHT TO LIGHT IN A CELEBRATION OF URBAN LIFE Michael Cho began creating drawings of the back alleys near his Toronto home in 2008. With this book, he has amassed a collection that speaks to the beauty of the urban landscape: sometimes grittily citified, sometimes unexpectedly pastoral, and always bewitching. Cho is a skilled draftsman, and Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes shines with lovingly rendered details, from expletive-filled graffiti splayed across backyard fences to the graceful twists of power lines over a bend in the road. Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes meanders through the city, functioning as a sort of caught-on-paper psychogeographical Jane's Walk. With each season's change, different color schemes become dominant, and a whole range of moods and moments are articulated. Cho lets the reader visit his city as a virtual flaneur, lingering equally over dilapidated sheds and well-groomed gardens in a dazzling tribute to the urban environs.