Line drawings with the name 'Andrew' underneath have appeared throughout Toronto. They're the work of artist Shaan Syed. (Shaan Syed/CBC)

An unusual poster campaign that recently appeared around Toronto is actually a loving tribute to a man who died too young.

Torontonians have seen line drawings appearing throughout the downtown of a man's head with the word "Andrew" written underneath. Many thought it might be a picture of a missing person.

Andrew is Andrew Mackenzie Hull, an architect, writer and filmmaker who died in May in London, England, of a head injury after a bicycle accident. He was 46 and had recently finished production on his first feature film, Siren.

The artist is Shaan Syed, 33, originally from Toronto who was Hull's long-term partner.

"In one sense, it is a tribute to Andrew, but in another sense, it's an art project in itself, a bit of an extension of my own practice," Syed told CBC's Metro Morning on Monday.

"This is a way to get back into the practice of making work after the trauma of Andrew's death," he said.

Syed, who is primarily a painter, was the artist behind the Jane Project, dozens of prints of a sketch of his friend Jane that were postered throughout Toronto in 2001.

"I wanted to see how long it would take for her image to disappear in the street," he said. "I imagined at the time people would poster over her or deface her, or she'd get ripped down. I'm interested in the loss of image and the impermanence of it."

The impetus behind the posters of Andrew are quite different, and the reactions of people who saw Syed putting up the posters has also been different, he said.

People would sometimes get angry or excited when they saw him putting up posters on postal boxes or buildings, but they changed their minds when he told them who Andrew was.

"It's been an amazing experience talking to people on the street about it," he said.

"When they come up to me, they say what is all about? As soon as I would tell them the story, the barrier that one tends to have with strangers would completely fall, and they would completely open up to me."

It is the second unexpected art event Toronto has seen this year. In August, members of a group calling themselves Toronto Street Advertising Takeover papered over advertising in the city with art.