Archive for the ‘graffiti and street art’ Category

anti graffiti

Posted: February 12, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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There will probably always be some controversy surrounding graffiti and and street art.  Some people like it and some don’t.  There is street art with a lot of artistic merit.  There are a number of drab grey places in the city that are improved by adding street art.

Graffiti is temporary by nature.    Time and weather affect it.  Sometimes it evolves over time as others add stickers or comments.   This is a strength and a weakness.  All it takes is a marker or a can of spray paint to make your mark on a wall, a doorway, or any surface you want for that matter.  Unfortunately, there are people who destroy rather than create.

There are many examples of the juvenile nature of some taggers so these are just a few.

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Stupid and clueless. The mural on Croft street commemorating the Fire of 1904 has also been tagged over.


 
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a black tag over a grey and white painting on the side of a set of stairs

The word 'lame' is written on blue letters on a large black and white tag.

Great comment. Written on a black and white tag that was painted on top of a street art picture

 

The City of Toronto has a Graffiti Management Plan.
They try to encourage Graffiti Art while getting rid of Graffiti Vandalism.

Where the West Toronto Railpath meets Dundas West.

Where the West Toronto Railpath meets Dundas West.  The graffiti and street art that were here were painted over with grey paint, probably by the city.

 

Bathhouse raids mural

Posted: February 12, 2015 in graffiti and street art, history, locations
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The Bathhouse Raids by Christiano De Araujo is a mural on Church Street just south of Carlton.
Completed in the fall of 2013, it was the largest of the Church St. Mural Project pieces commissioned for WorldPride 2014.

The following photos were taken with a very wide angle lens
because of the size of the mural and because there are always cars parked in front of it.

large mural on the side of a building. A number of cars are parked in front of it. The mural depicts the bathhouse raids, an event in Toronto's history where police raided gay bath house and arrested those they found inside. A yellow Toronto police car, a fire truck with its lights on are both in the picture. An oversized person is in the center, hands held over her/his head.

On the 5th of February, 1981, Toronto police raided four bathhouses in what was known as ‘Operation Soap’.
Around 300 men were arrested.  Most charges connected to the incident were eventually dropped or discharged, although some bathhouse owners were fined.

part of a large mural showing a yellow Toronto police car from the 1980's, a couple of policemen and a crowd of men standing just back of the police car

part of a large mural showing a yellow Toronto police car from the 1980's, a couple of policemen and a crowd of men standing just back of the police car

The event marked a major turning point in the history of the LGBT community in Canada.
The raids led to protests – the night after the raids, 3,000 people marched on 52 Division police headquarters and on Queen’s Park, smashing car windows and setting fires.  That spring the city held its first Pride Parade.

right hand side of the bathhouse raid mural on Church St. showing a firetruck with its red flashing lights on

eyes on fingernails

Posted: February 11, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Graffiti on a wall on Queen St. West
at the west side of Trinity Bellwoods park.

A graffiti face high on a grey wall, with a pine tree branch partially obscuring it

Close up of graffiti painted fingers in many bright colours. They are very large. Each fingernail has an eye.

Close up a piece of street art featuring brightly coloured fingers, with eyes on the fingernails. Partially hidden behind pine trees. Snow on the ground.

Close up a piece of street art featuring brightly coloured fingers, with eyes on the fingernails. Partially hidden behind pine trees. Snow on the ground.

Unfortunately, there is now an ugly black tag on the lower left corner.

Graffiti painting of a man high up on a grey wall, partially hidden behind two trees. Unfortunately someone has painted a black tag over the lower left corner of the painting

In the corner of a piece of graffiti with a blue background is a signature of the artists, in blovk letters, LEXR & EVOKE

around the corner

Posted: February 9, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I walked around the corner and down a small dead end lane and this is what I saw.

near St. Clair West

garages and gates in fences in a snow covered lane. Two of the doors have been painted in geometric designs.

On a brownish grey wall, some white paint has been applied to provide a backgound for some black line drawings of faces. There are four faces.

A mural on a wall of two polar bears - an adult and a young cub. It looks like they are walking on the snow.

Close up of the mural of two polar bears. in this picture, the whole cub is visible but only the nose of the adult bear is seen. The picture is signed J. Mora 2010

 

beep beep

Posted: February 9, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Wile E. Coyote is still chasing the roadrunner…..
right out of Looney Tunes and onto a wall in a Toronto lane.

street art painting of Wile E. Coyote from the looney tunes cartoon. He has a smug look on his face and he is holding a lit stick of dynamite.

street art painting of the Looney Tunes cartoon character the roadrunner. He is running past a window on a brick building.

 

beside 314

Posted: January 31, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Street art seen in a small lane, on the side of 314 Adelaide East.

A dog and a face partially obscured by swirls. There are also some chemical structures in this grey and blue painting.

above: painted by Aaron Li-Hill

IAH media graffiti in blues and greys on a black wall, very geometric. Sidewalk in front has snow on it.

above: painted by IAH Media

HUG graffiti tag and drawing in blues, greys and purples on a black and white wall.

Graffiti picture of two people, a man and a woman,

people painted by Elicser

Mural of a group of people, one in a chef's outfit, one on a bike,
314 Adelaide East is the home of Artik, a custom T-shirt (and other things) printing company.

mural scene of two people working at a desk amongst paint cans

mural scene of two men working on a machine that is printing designs on t-shirts

 

stand together

Posted: January 27, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Stand Together,
a mural on Richmond St. East between Church and Jarvis streets.

Stand Together mural on Richmond Street, it is the back of a building as well as the back wall of a parking lot. Four cars are parked in front of the mural which is 4 large arms and hands. Together the hands are holding a city that is under a rainbow.

Painted by Spud, 2014

Far right side of mural, behind a low fence, bright green background with a long arm reaching across the photo. A small tree stands in the corner of the parking lot, on the far right of this picture. An apartment building is behind. Spud bomb logo in the bottom right,  Center part of mural showing a city in 3D under a rainbow, on an orange background, and being held up by four large hands. The center part of the mural is a little 3D Toronto under a rainbow.
The CN Tower is there as well as a few cranes.  Perhaps you recognize other buildings?
It even has a painting of the mural in it!

Part of a mural showing wrists of two arms. The upper arm is tattooed in black ink and the tattoo includes the word SPUD.. The bottom wrist is wearing a large blue bracelet. The background is bright green and orange.

The whole mural from a close up angle, looking along the mural from right to left.

around the bakery

Posted: January 16, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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The Ontario Bread Company is located near Dundas and Ossington.
It had an Ossington Ave address but it is surrounded by lanes.
In September of 2013 it went out of business.  The building is still there but it is empty.

A slightly snow covered parking lot between two low rise buildings, both of which have murals painted on them. .

street art on a wall. In the middle is a brown loaf of bread with the words Ontario Bread Co written around it. There is a black and white tag on either side. two windows and a door of the building are also in the photo.

Lovebot is now on their mailbox!

a small black and white lovebot sticker, the one that looks like a king of hearts playing card, is on the mailbox

The bakery was founded in 1935 by Polish immigrants and they specialized in Polish, and other Eastern European, breads.  BlogTO did an interesting piece about the bakery in August 2013.

 There is a lumber yard adjacent to the bakery on the same lane.
What follows are some of the photos that I took as I walked the “block” of lanes around the bakery and the lumber yard.   Some of the graffiti has been there for a few years.

 

Lifelike painting of a beaver, but larger than life. Very realistic looking, sharp front teeth, little arms and big flat tail.

Old graffiti taf in yellows and blues on a grey brick wall. Two windows have been bricked over in red brick. One window has a green wood covering. It includes the words "RIP Ryan Dunn"

jumble of different scribbles and tags and old graffiti along a wall.

A view of the back wall.

looking down an alley with the side of a two storey building being the dominant part of the picture. It has a large number of colourful graffiti tags painted on it.

The words on this one say “It’s a bittersweet symphony”

A large colourful tag and street art piece. It's a bittersweet symphony is written into it. The left side is dark with a black background, the right side is brighter with a yellow and orange background.

This pair stands under the shower in a quiet corner.

Wheatpaste paste up picture of a woman in a long black sleeveless dress who is pouring water from a jug over the back of her head. The water is falling on a girl who is sitting behind the woman. The girl is holding an umbrella.
Rob Ford may no longer be mayor, but his legacy lives on …. in the form of anti-Ford graffiti.

tags on a brick wall in black, orange and white. Anti Rob Ford graffiti also there in the form of a crack pipe with Fords face on it. "Spud doesn't condone crack" I think are the words written beside the crack pipe.

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall

colorful graffiti tags on a brick wall
graffiti tag in greens and purples on a wall on a snowy day. Above the tag is a weathered sign that is peeling but it can still be read - No Dumping Along this wall.

This piece is on Rolyat Street, just north of the Ontario Bread Co.

A wheatpaste paper graffiti piece of a girl's head in duplicate, looks like she's reflected below. Long black hair. Big black eyes.

The last two pieces of street art are in a neighbouring lane, just to the northwest.

large pink creature street art, a small pink heart with the words 'lost doggy' is beside the creature

graffiti buzzard and tag behind a house.

Irene Ave

Posted: January 16, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Irene Ave. is a short street that runs behind the north side of Bloor Street West between Carling and Shaw streets, just east of Ossington Avenue.  Irene Avenue Parkette takes up most of the south side of Irene Avenue.  There is an alley that runs between the park and the back of the stores on Bloor West.

The Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre, through the Graffiti Arts portion of their LOFT program, has sponsored a number of murals in this alley.

This is what it looked like on a cold afternoon last week.

laneway in winter, some snow and ice on the ground. Three cars parked. A mural on the side of a two storey building. Reddish rust coloured background with two faces, one woman and one man.

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The next picture was taken in June of 2012.
The mural is still there but I couldn’t take a proper photo of it last week as there was a car parked too close.

A mural of Teetnage mutant ninja turtles painted on a garage door.

When I walked around the block to check out the fronts of these buildings, this is what I found

Street art mural by elicser of three men on a bench. One is smoking a cigarette, one is reading and one is holding a lunch box in his hands.

A mural by Elicser and to the right the LOFT Youth Centre for Social Enterprise and Innovation.

changes under St. Clair East

Posted: January 5, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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St. Clair Ave East passes over a ravine just east of Yonge St. 

a view of the bridge from a path in the ravine from a short distance away. It is winter so there is some snow and ice on the path and the trees have no leaves.

Looking south towards St. Clair

The Yellow Creek flows through this ravine.
To the north, the creek is underground until the south side of Mount Pleasant cemetery. 

A view under the bridge, looking from one side to the other across a creek. The curved metal supports under the bridge are visible. There is snow on the ground but the creek is not frozen.

The ground was slippery and the water in the creek was flowing quickly. 
  In other words, I didn’t cross over to the other side of the bridge.

At some point in the past year the graffiti that was under this bridge must have been “cleaned up”.  Since then, new tags have appeared.
Whether they are an improvement over what was there previously is a matter of opinion.

looking up towards the top of a bridge from a path along the ravine below. two concrete supports are visible as well as part of the road way across the top of the bridge. There is a graffiti tag on one of the supports.

southwest corner of the bridge

Two colourful tags on a concrete bridge support, each one is on a different side of the support

SORT and BEGIN

Graffiti tags under a bridge

Graffiti tags under a bridge

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