Today, we're going to talk about an artist who has a major influence on the Street Art scene in Montreal, Alexandre Veilleux aka Alex Scaner (or simply Scan). So, if one day you walk down the Montreal's streets and you see a graffiti Scan or his trademark Mr Can Do, you won't be surprised and you'll know what it means.

Mr Can Do with Smak on the roof on Saint Laurent Boulevard

WHERE

Everywhere in Montreal, Canada.

Position on Google Maps

WHO

Alexandre Veilleux aka Alex Scaner is born in early 80's. During his studies at Notre Dame College in Montreal, he does his first graffiti since then it has never stopped. He then continued his studies at UQAM in environmental design.

Done by Scaner on Saint Dominique Street

After his studies, Alex made a living creating legal murals for hotels, bars and stores. At night, Scaner was looking (scanning the streets) for the perfect places to paint, hence maybe his surname.

"Montreal was his canvas and even if it sometimes erased his signature, Alex Scaner left an indelible trace there." -

But by the age of 28, he is affected by liposarcoma, which usually afflicts people between the ages of 50 and 65. But after his first cancer diagnosis, a kind of resilience set in, giving him even more of a desire to create and multiply his signature on the walls, not only of Montreal, but also of Miami, New York.

Scaner on Mont-Royal Street

In spite of treatment to cure his cancer and disregarding the pain, he continued to participate in many festivals all around the world. During a trip to Spain, on the last evening, as he still had a few sprays left, he decided to paint one last wall but fell, breaking both his ankles and one wrist. He crawled to the hospital to avoid being caught by the police 🙏.

Despite of his almost superhuman stamina, he died at the age of 36 on September 9, 2017. Since then, he has never disappeared from the walls of Montreal.

Mr Can Do near Parc du Portugal

Now, Production CanDo is a nonprofit organization created in Scaner's memory to show his legacy through differents projects like tribute or exhibition like Time is Gold at Le Livart gallery in 2018.

During last Mural Festival, the Graffiti Alley was a huge tribute done by many street artists : Sober, Tchug, Awe, Stare, Ace, Serak, Skor, Shok, Odrus, Pito, Killa, Legal, Kwun, Jake, Zek, Some, Soma, Morz, Guko, Jasper, Ewol, Vect, Lyfer... Its influence can be seen in the number of artists who participated in this project. Impressive collaboration :

More about it on Street Art #213

It's good to see that despite the years, his works aren't erased or even vandalized. Big respect....

WHEN

• 2019.

Sources

Mural Festival
Production CanDo
Alex Scaner - Time Is Gold

Instagram :
Alex Scaner

My Previous Posts about Street Art

#311 Cryote, Montreal
#310 Madame Gilles, Montreal
#309 Marc-Olivier Lamothe
#308 Cryote & Waxhead
#307 Denial, Montreal
#306 Isaac Bell, Montreal