Archive for the ‘graffiti and street art’ Category

a dead end

Posted: November 16, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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Exploring streets and lanes I don’t think that I’ve walked before… or at least I don’t remember them!
Following every possible alley.
Then one turns a corner and becomes a dead end.
Frustrating to have to turn around and retrace my steps but rarely is it a waste of time.

 

 

looking down an alley, an abstract mural of triangular shapes is on one wall

below: There really isn’t much to this graffiti but at least there’s a creative (albeit gruesome) use of the garage door knob.   The poor guy is shocked and probably in pain as he’s stabbed in the eye.   I’m not sure if the other fellow is screaming or laughing loudly.

two stupid line drawings on a white garage door

below: Flash, glare and a happy light bulb.

light bulb graffiti with a text graffiti incorporated into it.

below: A blackburn giant squirrel covers a garage door.

a squirrel mural by blackburn. greyish brown squirrel on magenta background, fills the garage door

roughly drawn head with hair on one side, brown eyes, and an X for a mouth

a row of second empire style two storey houses as seen by looking down an alley towards the street. A red car is parked on the street

 

body soul mind

Posted: November 14, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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The words body, souls, and mind painted on a mural

In the southwest corner of Alexandra Park (near the SE corner of Bathurst and Dundas) there is a large colourful mural.  It was painted a couple of years ago by Elicser and Troy Lovegates.

 

large mural on the side of a house at the edge of Alexandra Park in Toronto, painted by Elicser and Troy Lovegates

part of a larger mural, the face and heads of two young black men.

part of a larger mural of elicser and Troy Lovegates, colourful people, A woman stands behind a seated man.

part of a larger mural of elicser and Troy Lovegates, colourful people, a heavy set man with a cap on, seated with large hands folded on his lap, wearing a sweater with rows of colourful diamond shapes. A large bee is flying above his head.

part of a larger mural of elicser and Troy Lovegates, colourful people, a man in a top hat and jacket, holding a bouquet in his upraised hand - a bouquet that looks like one a magician would use

part of a larger mural of elicser and Troy Lovegates, colourful people, a man's face in grey tones, many small objects coming out of his mouth - an eye, a finger with long fingernail, a cow's head, two bottle caps, a bird, and many more things.

large mural on the side of a house at the edge of Alexandra Park in Toronto, painted by Elicser and Troy Lovegates, most of the mural is in the photos along with some autumn foilage trees and some newer houses in the neighbourhood

elicser and CP24

Posted: November 12, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I happened to be walking along Queen Street West this afternoon when I spotted something new…

elicser painting a large mural by CP 24 parkinglot on Queen St West, showing people in the tv business

A large mural on a wall by the CP24 parking lot by elicser

elicser painting a large mural by CP 24 parkinglot on Queen St West, showing people in the tv business - the almost completed mural

with the artist himself, putting on the finishing touches to the mural.

elicser painting a large mural by CP 24 parkinglot on Queen St West, showing people in the tv business - up close picture of him with a can of spray paint in his hand.

elicser painting a large mural by CP 24 parkinglot on Queen St West, showing people in the tv business - him on a lift painting above the heads of people walking past

go east, way east…..

Posted: November 11, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations, public art
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I had heard about a mural at Lawrence and Orton Park so this morning I thought I’d check it out.   I ventured out Lawrence Avenue to just east of Markham Road.  As I drove I was reminded of how big this city really is.

below: This is the community mural that started my adventure this morning.  It was painted in nine sections and then assembled on the wall.   It is the work of Ted Hamer, Rowell Soller and Skratch Wonder.

a mural on the side of a building that has the words Lawrence Orton in blue and orange. There is also a blue jay in flught, a fox and a squirrel and a robin standing in the grass.

below: As I left Orton Park, I saw this mural from a distance.  Of course I had to stop and take a picture.  I got some strange looks.  Tourists are probably not too common in this part of the city.

vertical mural on a multirise building (about 15 storeys tall perhaps).

below:  While I was looking for the best angle from which to take the above photo, I noticed some markings beside the road.

red painting on concrete wall barrier beside sidewalk on bridge over Highland Creek, in red, a girl's head and the words, What I love about the city is there are all kinds of cultures and faith groups. There is a lot of trees and sunshine.

below: As it turns out, these are from the summer of 2011.  Lawrence Avenue is 6 lanes wide and at this point it crosses Highland Creek and Morningside Park – a long bridge, a rather barren stretch of concrete and pavement.

red picture of a boy on a concrete barrier beside a sidewalk as it passes over a bridge. The word welcome is written beside him.

below:  Bridges were meant for going under, right?   Luckily there was an entrance to Morningside Park right there, and luckily I left my toboggan at home  🙂   Morningside Park is part of a network of parks that follow the Highland Creek.  It starts near Markham Road and the 401 and runs south to Kingston Road near Guildwood station.    A search for an answer to the question, “How many ravine parks does Toronto have?” has yielded no results yet.  I’ll keep looking.

paved path leading down a hill to a ravine park, apartment buildings in the distance. Sign beside path says no skiing or sleigh riding on the slope.

below:  The answer to another question, “Is there graffiti under the bridge?” was more easily found.

in a park under a bridge, grassy area, some trees on either side, 2 concrete support pillars with street art on the bottom of each.

below: The bottom of the pillars were painted back in 2010 and 2011.

street art on a concrete support pillar of a bridge, a man upside down, large head with top of head on the ground, feet up in the air. moustache, smiling mouth,

below: Hope takes flight over the city.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to see but the word hope is written on the city at the bottom of this small mural but it is behind the weeds.

small mural on the bottom of a concrete pillar, a bird takes flight over a city at sunrise. The word hope is written on the mural

below:   Personified Hope, from the picture above, wraps around to another side of the pillar as he/she moves upward.  Also seen here is one of the feet from the upside down man.

side of a concrete pillar with light blue line drawing of person looking upwards, abstracted.

below:   Another pillar has a painting by elicser.

street art by elicser in blue of a family. Man with red hat, woman and kids huddled together, fall park scenery in the background.

street art on the bottom of a concrete pillar, two black men. One is Mohammad Ali.

park with grass and autumn foilage trees, apartment building in the background, a large bridge passes over with four or five concrete pillars. SUnny blue sky day

street art painting on a pillar under a bridge of a young man in a blue hoodie and brown baseball cap

street art painting on a pillar under a bridge, wispy picture of a woman with long hair, hair swirls upwards to a satelite dish and a flying bird

bridge over a park and creek

geometric shapes abstract many colours street art

below: There were also a couple of paintings on the other side of the creek. There was water in the creek. Too much to cross safely.
Or at least, too much for me to cross safely!

graffiti on a pillar in the park with weeds and small shrubs growing around it.

It was a very quiet place to be this morning.  I saw a couple of people on the path, including Batman, but they were silent.

line drawing in black of Batman's head and shoulders, drawn on a paved path in a park

large chalk drawing of a man's face in black, white and pale purple, on a paved path in a park

One last photo, taken as I was driving home across Lawrence.  I guess it’s somewhat appropriate for the time.  Not sure why one would be sporting such a sticker in Ontario though.   C’est la vie.  To each their own.

red car with a sticker on the back that says Donald Trump 2016 Make America Great Again.

I saw many people at bus stops waiting for the 34 Lawrence bus and I wondered how long it took them to get to the subway.  Lawrence is 6 lanes wide and I tried to picture it with an LRT running down the center.   (but that’s a whole other blog post, perhaps another day).

Regent Park athletics

Posted: October 22, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations, public art
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At one end of the new sports field at Regent Park, there is a large mural by elicser.

green soccer field and clay track in the foreground, small trees and a mural along the end of the field, new apartments being constructed in the background.

below: The west end of the mural, waiting on the sidelines with basketball at the ready as well as watching the soccer game.

mural by elicser elliott on a fence between grassy field and new apartments being built, people watching a soccer game, a person sits on a bench with a basketball between their feet.

part of a large mural, large letters that spell Regent Park

below: The cricket players are between the words ‘Regent’ and ‘Park’ as seen above.

mural showing two male cricket players

part of a larger mural, a man and a woman walking on a street, the man is drinking with a straw

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below: The mural continues behind the basketball court.

outdoor basketball court, with a mural in the background, and construction beyond that.

below: Basketball players both on and off the court.

mural of basketball players playing, mural is behind a basketball court, also mural of close up of players feet with running shoes on

mural of a woman, and some text, on a fence behind some outdoor picnic tables

below: The east end of the mural

two text street art pieces, one in yellows and oranges with the man in the moon in the middle

 

birdo and getso in circles

Posted: October 22, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Cranes and construction hoardings, not much new there.

below: On Dundas East, as part of the ongoing Regent Park revitalization project, there is another crane over another construction site.  The hoardings around this project feature paintings by two street artists, birdo and getso.

A street, Dundas East, with construction hoardings painted with street art pictures inside large circles ona black background, cranes in the background.

below: These pictures were taken back in September.  The hoardings are in a covered pedestrian walkway so they are in a shaded area.  The railings make it unsafe to stand in the street to take close up photos, or at least I didn’t feel too safe the morning I was there.

construction hoardings, painted black and on that, large circles with paintings on them. A bird head, one with green and pink squiggles, and one with a zebra striped sphere in orange and blue and the fourth with diagonal stripes making a gradient from yellow to dark red

large circle on black wooded construction hoardings. In the circle, painted light green is a brown horse head and neck, with a red and blue striped scarf around its neck, painted by birdo

A street, Dundas East, with construction hoardings painted with street art pictures inside large circles ona black background, cranes in the background. A couple of cars

street art painting of a racoon's head, on wood construction hoardings.

painting of a mouse head on pink background, beside a sidewalk that is closed to pedestrians.

hanging around Wilson station

Posted: October 18, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Wilson subway station is nestled between the northbound and southbound lanes of the Allen Expressway.  It’s functional, but not pretty.  All that concrete!

below: Wilson subway station from the parking lot on the SW corner of Wilson and the Allen.
view od Wilson station from the south side of Wilson, directly opposite the bus loop.

If you look closely at the above picture, you might be able to see that one of the pillars holding up the Allen has been painted purple.  That’s part of the latest mural painting project by Shalak Attack, with help from Bruno Smoky.  What you can’t see is that the mural covers all of the underpass supports on both sides of Wilson Ave.

below: The mural on the south side of Wilson Ave has been painted on all sides.  Here, a face is between two hands gripping the poles.

painting on bents on an underpass, a face in the middle and a hand on either side, holding onto the concrete pillars, entrance to subway TTC station in the background,
close up of an eye from a face on a mural by Shalak Attack

below: More pillars on the south side.

a woman's face in a mural, eyes closed, by Shalak Attack, other pillars painted with green, red and orange petals.

below: A large spider on a web is in the center of the mural.

part of a mural, a large blue and red spider with orange legs, on a verylarge spider web

a Shalak Attack face painted on a concrete bent under the Allen Expressway on Wilson Ave., other bents have geometric patterns and a large spider web on green.
view along the sidewalk leading from the Wilson subway station to Wilson Ave., grass covered embankment on either side of the sidewalk, Expressway higher up on either side of sidewalk as well as straight ahead.

below: The back side of the supports have also been painted.  Just be careful not to bump your head on the road above if you want to get a closer look!

bright and bold pink flowers and green leaves and vines are part of a mural on concrete supports of an underpass.

geometric designs in a mural on concrete pillars on an underpass, by a TTC subway station

below: The north side of the underpass is being painted at the moment. Stay tuned for updates!

a ladder, people working on a mural of a blue face,

part of a mural, two purple fingers on yellow background.

new neighbours at Underpass Park

Posted: October 15, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I first blogged about the murals and street art in Underpass Park last summer after the pillars and bents on the east side of Lower River Street (at the skate park) were painted.   The newest paintings are on the west side of the street.

painting of a toddler on a concrete support, street art

Street artists Troy Lovegates and Labrona are in the midst of painting 16 portraits of 16 east end residents – one on each face of four pillars that help support the Eastern/Adelaide/Richmond overpass.

street art murals on 4 bents holding up the ramp of a highway, underpass park, the paintings are of people, in the foreground is a woman with a yellow T-shirt and a hat with little flowers

mural of people on a bent of an underpass

a man stands on a lift as he paints a mural, in the foreground is a man in a shirt with red triangles all over it that has already been painted.

a mural of a group of people linked together with their arms.

a street artist (Troy Lovegates) is on a lift and painting a mural on the concrete supports on an underpass. Other supports are in the picture, they have already been painted.

paintings on a bent holding up a ramp. Two men standing on the pillar, and a group of people with telescopes looking upward and pointing.

The pillars on the east side of Lower River street were painted as part of the Pan Am Path and were completed before the Pan Am Games started last summer.

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below: From inside the skate park, looking westward.   Lots of people!

elicser painting of a basketball player in a red hoodie on a pillar in underpass park, other pillars and bents are in the background, all of which have been painted with pictures of people, painted by different street artists.

below: Looking beyond the park and out over Bayview Avenue, train tracks,  and the Don River. Two faces by anser.

two line drawings of faces by anser on posts holding up a road

The murals on the pillars in the park are part of the StreetARToronto initiative.

Beltline murals at Eglinton

Posted: October 11, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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A beautiful Thanksgiving day, sunshine and autumn temperatures – what better time to get outside and enjoy a walk with friends?  Today’s walk included the Beltline from Mt Pleasant cemetery to the Allan Expressway.  Along the way we saw a couple of murals so I stopped to take a few pictures. These murals were under the bridge over the Beltline at Eglinton West.   Both were part of the StART (StreetARToronto) program and were painted in 2013 by artists Viviana Astudillo and Logan Miller.

below: On one side of the underpass are scenes from the days when a railway ran along the Beltline.

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, in brown tones of the hhistory of the railroad in the area (scenes from), an older man in a brown cap

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, in brown tones of the hhistory of the railroad in the area (scenes from), a large locomotive with a man standing by the front of it.

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, in brown tones of the hhistory of the railroad in the area (scenes from), kids in different coloured caps playing beside a train

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, in brown tones of the hhistory of the railroad in the area (scenes from) a young man in a brown cap

below: The mural on the other side of the underpass depicts scenes of the modern day path including hawks, people, joggers, cyclists, walkers and dogs.

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, two hawks on the ground.

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, people walking on a path through the woods including a jogger, a woman walking a dog, and a cyclist.

part of a mural under a bridge on the Beltline path, by StART, of nature scenes, a large dog is sitting beside a tree

below: Someone has left there mark here too.

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a new Chinatown dragon

Posted: September 17, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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There’s a new dragon in Chinatown.  It lives on a wall on Dundas West, just east of Spadina.

mural of a large blue dragon on a wall, outrside, with red and gold coloured spines

This colourful addition to Dundas West was painted by Blinc Studios Artists, Allan Bender, John Nobrega, Jesse McCuaig, Azadeh Pirazimian, Chris Brown, Frannie Potts and Mohammad Jaberi with the help of the Chinatown BIA and the City of Toronto.   It must not have been an easy mural to paint – the wall is not flat but all parts of it have been covered.

looking at a mural from close up, looking upwards. The wall is not flat, there are many indentations, the mural has been painted on sides of the indentations.

Another wonderful mural to brighten up the alley!

view down an alley, a mural is on the right, a girl is walking down the alley

 

 

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