Archive for the ‘graffiti and street art’ Category

What is Victor up to?

Posted: August 25, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Apparently Victor has been painting the alphabet, one letter at a time, on the sidewalk along Danforth Ave.  The letter A is near Eaton Ave (just east of Pape) and the letter Z is in front of De Serres art supply store (just west of Woodbine).   The letter O seems to be bigger than the others; it is in front of The Only Cafe near Donlands.

  Here is a sample:

The letter B is painted on a sidewalk in black, with blue, gree, yellow and swirls like ribbons wrapped loosely around the letter

The letter E is painted on a sidewalk in black, with blue, gree, yellow and swirls like ribbons wrapped loosely around the letter

The letters J and K are painted on a sidewalk in black, with blue, green, yellow and swirls like ribbons wrapped loosely around the letter

The letter O is painted on a sidewalk in black, with blue, green, yellow and swirls like ribbons wrapped loosely around the letter

The letter Z is painted on a sidewalk in black, with blue, green, yellow and swirls like ribbons wrapped loosely around the letter

Shortly after I took the above photos on Danforth Ave., I went downtown where I stumbled upon another of Victor’s creations.  I think it’s on Spadina Ave.

A painting on a sidewalk, A large rectangle has been made into the top part of a face, round nose at the bottom of the long side of the rectangle

below:  (added 28 Aug) I saw this hummingbird on the sidewalk on Queen West in Parkdale yesterday.

A painting on a sidewalk of a hummingbird done in Inuit style in blue and white, also some flowers, all enclosed in a green circle.

If you spent any time around Richmond and Spadina a few years ago, you might remember the yellow tape measure on the northwest corner of that intersection.  That was Victor’s work too.   Also on that corner is a “sculpture” of a thimble and a couple of buttons; the tape measure seem appropriate.  In fact, many of us thought that it was part of the art installation.  We learned otherwise when the paint was removed by the city, leaving only the shorter, unpainted tape measure that is etched into the concrete of the sidewalk.   Here is a link to a Toronto Star article written in November 2014 about the “cleaning up” of the tape measure.

Part of a yellow tape measure that has been painted on a sidewalk in Toronto

#whatisvictorupto

new kid in the alley

Posted: August 24, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Hey!  There’s something new in Graffiti Alley! 
It comes in many disguises.  Or maybe there are many different ones, an invasion of sorts.

I’m not sure if they have names.
But there is little chicken guy, in fact there are two of them!  Birds of a feather they are.

red zombie with exposed brains

blog_chicken_gate
below:  I just call this one Iron.  I think I caught him in the act of tagging the wall.  If he looks something like a video game character, well, I’m sure that’s just coincidence.

Mario brothers parody I think, yellow shirt, blue pants and a moustache
below: This little  storm trooper, policeman sort of guy is being watched.  All police need oversight?  Is this a political statement?

storm trooper, under an eye from another graffiti piece
below:  Michaelangelo was always my favorite.  He’s the one in orange.

turtle caps, a parody of teenage mutant nija turtles
 below:  This little wizard has lost his wand but he can’t see where he’s going so he’s hopelessly lost and can’t find the wand, or anything else for that matter.

yellow wizard cap with stars on it

below: Zombie guy!  Watch out Alley, your brains are in danger!

blog_zombie

below: The force is probably strong with these guys

two rotund figures that are supposed to look like white storm troopers seen in the Star Wars movies

below:  An invasion!  A whole division of paratroops has started dropping in!  If the zombies don’t get you first, the invading army will!

with parachute, all in brown camoflage

with parachute, all in green camoflage

with parachute, all in brown camoflage

If anyone knows if these creatures have names, please let me know!

UPDATED:  Turtlecaps!  They’re called turtlecaps

almost around the block

Posted: August 22, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Walking around the block, sort of, near Ossington and Queen.

North from Queen Street, west side of the alley

graffiti and street art by elicser on a wall in an alley, on the side of a Wine Rack store

detail of mural by elicser of two faces, a woman and a man in profile

Little animals crawl along the bottom part of a wall in an alley. They are covered in polka dots, there are two turtles, a hippo, a dinosaur and part of a beaver

street art on a wall in an alley

mural on a wall around, above and below three windows, looking down the along alongside the mural towards Queen St. west

part of a mural on a wall, a couple cheek to cheek with the woman wearing a purple party hat, also a topless green woman

detail of part of a mural showing a snake head and a skull. the snake looks fierce and has his tongue out

East side of the alley

street art, car movement and lights

mural of a jogger and a car with bright headlights shining through the night

Turning, now behind Queen Street West

graffiti and street art on both side of a corner of a building at the intersection of two alleys
street art covered wall in an alley

close up of a door covered with bright yellow, red, and blue graffiti

sticker graffiti, hot dog with line of mustard on it on a blue and yellow door

part of a street art painting on a wall with two windows, two large male faces, one in grey and pink and one in a brownish yellow

close up of a street art painting showing a large hand in front of a blue and red sweater

street art around two windows on a wall, pink on the top, green and brown on the bottom, with two faces, one realistic woman's face and one stylized face with eyes closed

A small corner in an alley that is behind metal bars, has graffiti on the wall. Beyond that is a wall cover with street art.

lovebot playing card wheatpaste high on a wall in an alley

pink swirls and a light purple skull in a street art painting

Where the alley meets Brookfield Street

A wall in a parking lot is covered with a mural with large S A and K letters,

A double garage door is covered with a painting in black andd white of geometric shapes, converging lines, with two faces as well.

two wheatpaste graffiti pieces, one yipyaps and one man's head. The word irony is written as well. They are on a worn black painted wood surface

On Brookfield Street at Queen Street West

street art by amek in pink white on blue background, sidewalk and bicycles in front of it.

below: The red line marks the alleys in which the above photos were taken.

map of Queen West at Ossington showing the northwest quadrant

north to Humbert

Posted: August 21, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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There is a lane that runs parallel, and just to the west of, Ossington Ave.
It’s only one block long, running north from Queen St. West to Humbert Street.

In the summer of 2012 this lane was the site for “Brighten the Corners For the Love of Art” mural project.  The project involved a number of local community groups such as ProAction Cops and Kids as well as the Academy of Lions (a gym on Ossington Ave).  Twenty artists painted many of the garage doors and fences in the alley.   Some of the paintings remain, some have been defaced, and others have been painted over entirely since then.  This is what the alley looked like last week.

An alley that runs parallel to Ossington Ave., looking north with garages on both sides and a tree overhead, looking towards Humbert St.
Two birdo creatures on a brown garage door
Two spud bomb graffiti characters on a blue garage door in an alley

A large white spud character on a garage door, with big googly eyes and arms that come out from where his ears are

 

a number of colourful street art paintings on a garage door and gate in an alley

garage door painted orange and then a geometric street art painting in greys and purples painted on that

A door in an alley with two montsters painted on it. A one eyed purple monster with a long pink tongue is sitting on top of a blue monster who is trying to pinch the end of the purple monster's tongue

Close up of a graffiti piece, many colours, with a blue 3D stick figure surrounded on three sides by frame-like boards

Two garage doors with street art. On the left is a yellow lovebot and a red grominator. On the second is a large woman's face that has been scribbled on as well as a fairy-like creature. The latter two are the work of EGR.An old broken toilet is in the corner.

A purple faced man is blowing grey clouds, the alley is in the background.

A mural of big headed, big toothed creatures by broken alley on a garage door in a lane.

The creatures on the garage door above always remind me of ‘scrubbing bubbles’ from the cleaning products of the same name.

A picture of blue scrubbing bubbles from TV ad

at Humbert Street

Posted: August 20, 2015 in graffiti and street art, intersections
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Intersections – Ossington at Humbert

below:  As you walk south on Ossington Ave, approaching Humbert Street,  look up and you can see the mural ‘Further’ by Aaron Li-Hill. Fencers with their swords in motion.   It extends the length of the wall but taking a picture of it is difficult because of the high location of the wall and because of the stuff on the roof of the adjacent building.

A mural on the upper storey of a building that is partially obscured by items on the roof of the adjacent building. THe theme of the mural is further, and the word further is written many times. There are also images of fencers with their swords.
below:  On the other side of Ossington Ave there is a mural along the north wall of House of Horvath .  The mural features a man in a tobacco field presumably picking tobacco.  It seemed like a strange theme for a mural in Toronto until I realized that this is a building in which cigars are made.   Yes, cigars are made in Toronto.

Mural of a man in a white hat leaning over and picking tobacco plants in a field of tobacco.

mural of a man in a tobacco field picking tobacco on the side of Horvaths, a cigar manufacturer, on Ossington St. in TOronto.

near Dundas and Dufferin streets

Posted: August 14, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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A few things seen while walking Dundas West (and the alleys behind it) near Dufferin Street.

below:  Dundas Street West, looking east from Dufferin Street, March 2015

view of Dundas St. West, looking eastward towards downtown from the intersection with Dufferin St.

below: At the corner of Sheridan Ave and Dundas West.

building on the corner of Sheridan and Dundas is a two storey brick building. On the whole of the side wall is a large Dundas West mural featuring a large butterfly painted on it.

below: A mural by Jarus

a Jarus street art painting of a woman sleeping on a bed. She has long black hair and is wearing white clothes

On a wall that has been painted a couple of shades of red is a painting of a green head with a green and red striped head dress on

below: Solicitors will be fed to the chihuahua

sign on the door of a store that says Solicitors will be fed to the chihuahua, with a picture of a little chihuahua dog below the words

large colourful mural on the side of building, two stylized musicians, a drummer and a guitar player as well as two people dancing.

large mural of stylized people, 2 people, a drummer and a dancer

garage door with three black line drawn foxes, there is a construction site to the right of the garage
A brown car is parked in a driveway beside a door with a yellow man's face painted on the bottom half of the door. He's bald, little round ears and his eyes are closed.
blue door with faded paint and a metal grille in front of it, beside a garage door with graffiti on it including the words Idle no more. Upper storey has an exterior door that goes nowhere

garage door with a picture on it titled Casa Nostra, a picture of a man playing a large guitar and a woman standing beside an outdoor table with food on it.

below: Kick out the jams

black and white street art on a garage door that is partially obscured by trash bins and wooden structure. The art is geometric shapes and includes the words Kick out the Jams

mural behind a small tree on a red brick wall, spiral of DNA, medical symbols, butterfly

black stencil of a man's head on a white brick wall

a cityscape, two bunnies and a chicken

Posted: August 11, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Murals and street art seen in a nameless alley in Kensington Market area,
near Kensington Ave and St Andrew Street.
It’s the alley that Mona Lisa watches over the entrance to.

a mural on a wall in an alley, a city scene (no people) in grey tones. A man is sitting on the stairs beside the mural and a green car is parked there too

wide angle shot of a mural on a wall in an alley, city buildings in grey tones covers the lower floor of a two storey building.
close up of a portion of the grey cityscape mural

a wall in a lane, a large red chicken head painting is on the right and it seems to be looking down the lane. A woman is standing in the lane

street art painting of a large brown chicken with a red face. The signature on the painting says Jonny Cakes
a yellow poser bunny on a wall in an alley beside a door that is covered with tags including oreks

looking down the alley, wide angle shot, poser bunny mural on the right side, red tag graffiti on the left. At the end of the alley a man stands with his dog, a woman with a white umbrella is passing by

a poser bunny street art painting at the corner of a building is in the foreground, people on Kensington Ave are in the background

revisiting an alley

Posted: August 9, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I was sorting through older photos recently when I discovered some of street art and graffiti that I saw in an alley near Trinity Bellwoods Park.  The photos were taken in February so there is lots of snow in them.  I thought that it would be silly to write a blog post in August using cold and snowy photos so I went back the other day to retake the pictures.

A painting by street artist birdo of a red and blue striped horse like creature with its neck bent downwards so that it looks like it is eating the weeds that are growing between the cracks in the lane. It is on a garage door, tops of houses can be seen in the background, above the garage

The alley is at the north end of Trinity Bellwoods Park, running behind Dundas West between Montrose and Grace.  The east end of the alley turns north to exit at Dundas West.

a fence that runs down the right side of an alley has been covered with street art

below: This guy, and his chess issues, is at the corner where the alley meets Dundas West.

a low concrete fence is painted with graffiti street art, a green snarling green raccoon creature is acting out against a chess piece, a castle or rook

two street art pictures that look a bit like angry birds

cruz1 street art that looks like leaves or green abstract letters on a fence
3 big round headed aliens by street artist mska, one is green, one is pink and yellow and one is yellow and orange, on a fence in an alley

close up picture of a green leafed vine growing up a street art painting in blue and red with a yellow heart
A garage door in an alley that has been painted with many brightly coloured skulls

A garage door in an alley covered with a street art painting of letters and hand grenades - spud bombs

street art on a garage door in a laneway, dog riding on top of a doghouse, sort of like Snoopy did

below: close up of the dog from the painting above, taken in February

street art of a dog wearing sunglasses and pretending to be a pilot, taken in the winter as there are icicles hanging from the roof

below:  There was one garage that had been painted between February when I first saw it and early August when I went back.  The two photos below show the garage ‘before’ and ‘after’.

The side of a garage in an alley in winter, snow on the ground, two small trees. The side of the garage is painted green and it has a black and white orak tag on it.

The side of a garage door in summer, two trees and a parked car. The side of the garage is covered with street art

below:  This Anser face was on the doors of the above garage back in February.
It has since been painted over.

A face painted on a garage door. bright blue eys, otherwise drawn with just black lines. by the artist anser

 below:  Blaze Works has painted this where the Anser face was. Always remember.

blaze works tag like graffiti street art on a garage door in an alley

other garage doors

tag like street art on a garage door in an alley

tag like street art on a garage door in an alley Diana Gordito

tag like street art on a garage door in an alley crsy fario, killa wales, lpk 66,

tag like street art on a garage door in an alley ynn doh

Forbidden City

Posted: August 3, 2015 in graffiti and street art, public art
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Mural of the Forbidden City

A while ago I posted pictures of a large mural of The Great Wall of China in an alley off Dundas St. West.   A new mural has been painted on the other side of this alley,  a mural depicting the Forbidden City which is now in the center of Beijing China.  The Forbidden City was an imperial palace for twenty-four emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties (about 1420 to 1912).   One could only enter the complex with the permission of the Emperor, hence the name Forbidden.

mural of the forbidden city in Beijing, painted on a wall in Toronto, showing a statue of a lion outside a building

A pair of Chinese Guardian Lions, one at each end, stand over the Forbidden City.

mural of the forbidden city in Beijing, painted on a wall in Toronto, showing a statue of a lion outside a building

The mural was painted by Blinc Studio artists,
Allan Bender, John Nobrega, Jesse McCuaig and Elaine Teguibon

painting of one of the red buildings in the Forbidden City in Beijing China, part of a mural in an alley in Chinatown

window of a Chinese restaurant with a young man sitting at a table by the window. On the exterior wall surrounding that window is a painting of a large Chinese lion statue that is part of a larger mural

Neighbourhood watch good guys

Posted: July 31, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Watching over some of Toronto’s streets are a number of ‘good guys’ from TV series, video games,  and movies.  These first appeared a little over a year ago.  In fact, they were mentioned in most of the Toronto media last summer.  Although I had heard of them before, I only recently noticed a few of them.

below: just south of Dupont Street, Steven Seagal

An altered Neighbourhood Watch sign. A picture of a man looking over the top of his sunglasses has been added to the sign.

There are now more than 75 (or even 90?) pictures glued on to existing Neighbourhood Watch signs.
They are the work of Andrew Lamb, a pseudonym.

below: In Kensington, Wesley Snipes as Blade

An altered Neighbourhood Watch sign. A picture of a black man wearing sunglasses and with a machine gun on his back

below: Xena the warrior princess watches over Vermont Ave.

An altered Neighbourhood Watch sign. A woman. Xena the warrior princess character.

 below: On Roxton Road, Agents Mulder and Scully from the TV series, the X Files.

An altered Neighbourhood Watch sign. A man and a woman, agents Mulder and Scully from the TV series X Files

below:  A faded picture of a group of Transformers on Palmerston Blvd.

An altered Neighbourhood Watch sign. A faded picture of a large group of transformers, the superheros from the old TV series.

below: Super Grover from Sesame Street on Wright Ave (near Roncesvalles)

altered Neighbourhood Watch sign, Grover from Sesame Street in a superhero costume flying through the sky

below: Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs and Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh, good guys from the ‘Lethal Weapon’ movies, watch over Atkins Avenue.

Neighbourhood watch sign by Atkins Ave.., picture of Mel Gibson and Danny Glover has been pasted on it, two actors from Lethal Weapons movies.

below: Samus Aran from the Nintendo video game Metroid

An altered Neighbourhood Watch sign. A picture of a superhero dressed head to toe in pink (or is it faded rad?) and holding a large weapon has been added to the sign

below: Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in the ‘Alien’ movies

Neighbourhood watch sign with picture of Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in 'Aliens, carrying a child and a very big gun

below: The Thunderbirds from the 1960s British TV series watch over the north end of Borden Street.  They were part of International Rescue, an international life saving organization and their story was told using electronic marionettes and scale models.

blog_neighbourhood_watch_space_animation

 

below: Grace Jones and Arnold Schwarzenegger in ‘Conan the Destroyer’

Neighbourhood watch sign with Grace Jones and Arnold Schwarzenegger from the movie 'Conan the Destroyer'
This is only a small sample of the heroes that adorn our streets.  Maybe you have seen some of the others – Batman, Nancy Drew, the Hulk, Robocop, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Yoda, and even Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable.   As I researched these signs I found them online so if you haven’t seen them on the streets, here is the link to the website that has photos of them all.

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