Archive for the ‘graffiti and street art’ Category

catchoo and friends

Posted: September 18, 2023 in graffiti and street art
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A group of stickers seen on a pole on Queen Street East recently

has an image from Catchoo combined with a perplexed Sailor dude from Ty Pro in the top place – what a cute balloon! At the bottom are three heads that you might recognize from previous posts.  In pink is T-bonez from urban ninja squadron and the chosen few; on the right is a luchadore mask from bruho.

three stickers on a pole, catchoo, and others

Here catchoo collaborates with  c_priority (a k a Christopher Piccinich )  Even within the blacks of his suit there are little catchoo symbols and characters.  I was hoping that there were secret messages written on the pieces of paper on the desk but there are just squiggly lines.

sticker on a pole, catchoo along with at priority, man on red inflatable on top of desk, pointing to picture of heart framed and hanging on a wall

Last, feelings boi joins the fun.  Is it a sword? or an umbrella?  Whatever it is, there are smiles all round.

visual noise tbonez urban ninja squadron sticker with umbrella, joined by feelings boi character with long curly hair

Aries and Poseidon

Posted: September 12, 2023 in graffiti and street art
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This large Greektown mural on Pape Avenue features two Greek Gods – Aries and Poseidon – painted by Nick Sweetman.  In the middle is the Parthenon, the work of Skewr.

 

large mural on Pape Ave in Toronto on the side of Ellas Meat Market, Greektown, mural in blues and white, with Greek gods Posiedon and Aries, one at each end and painting of Parthenon in middle

painting of greek god of war, Aries, by Nick Sweetman

below: Aries the God of War (with portions of throw up by vektr)

painting of greek god of war, Aries, by Nick Sweetman

below: Poseidon the God of the Sea.

painting of Poseidon, greek god of the sea, in mural by Nick Sweetman,

part of a mural, very large hand with webbed fingers, belonging to poseidon, greek god of the sea

bits of paper in Graffiti Alley

Posted: July 19, 2023 in graffiti and street art
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Another visit to Graffiti Alley to see what’s changed…..

below: Collage on the back of a sign with contributions by many.

many stickers on the back of a traffic sign

below: An orange dragon graces a utility pole.

an intricate painting of an orange dragon on whitepaper, stapled to pole in graffiti alley, with portrait of a woman in the background

below: Sentient Cookie with “The words you’ve said to me a decade ago still echo in my brain”.

below: Another section of wall covered with the remains of stickers and slaps.

many stickers and small wheatpaste on a wall, many colourful pieces

below: Truth, It’s that simple.  Consume daily.  “Free through an earnest volition. Side effects include decreased stress and increased mental clarity….  ”  Dorian’s House.

a poster pasted on top of graffiti covered wall, picture of a bottle with yellow pills and label that says truth. words beside bottle say it's that simple

below: Who do you love?  Apparently someone loves his/her girlfriend while someone else loves, and misses,  Stephanie Ann.

graffit, red background with a little white bird, with text who do you love?

below: More ink additions, this time on a bird.  Someone has written, “no phone no wife” – either he thinks that without a phone he can’t find/attract a wife (no tindr?) or he has neither a phone nor a wife (lucky man?).  Interpret as you want.   Also, there is Kone x Roc on his wing as well as Sari D. declaring her love forever.

sticker with text glass bird, small sticker with drawing of a fat bird, some people have written in ink on the bird

below: Someone left their shoe behind… and that’s quite the reaction from Tips

a brown shoe on the ground, stickers on a metal pipe, some say postering, another is a black drawing of a face

below: 33wallflower33 whetpaste – My body my choice

wheatpaste by 33 wallflower 33 of two women and words my body my choice

below: … and another

wheatpaste by 33 wallflower 33 of two women and words my body my choice

below: Urban Ninja Squadron running away with an angry bird…. and Adopt by Praxis in bright pink

urban ninja squadron graffiti, also an adopt poster in bright pink

below: An angry white cloud seems to hover hover a drawing by catchoo

stickers on pole, including one that looks like an angry white cloud, a drawing in a circle shape by catchoo

below: More catchoo

a sticker by cathcoo of a face on shiny silver background

drawing by catchoo of many small different coloured faces mostly in shades of orange and green

below: What’s this chef serving up?

black drawing on white, man in chef hat holding a platter with what looks like a shark fin or a sailboat

below: L S and Z

below: A skull and Noah forever.

stickers on a pole, one says Noah forever, a small drawing of a skull

Photos taken June 2023

Bone Head in Graffiti Alley

Posted: July 16, 2023 in graffiti and street art
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There are a series of 5 paintings by Bone Head nestled between the windows of a building that backs onto Graffiti Alley in Toronto. As the name suggests, Bone Head painted characters with large boney heads or skulls. They also have a penchant for white shirts and striped neck ties!

graffiti painting by bone head on a brick wall in the narrow space between two windows, large boney head, narrow white shirt and striped neck tie graffiti painting by bone head on a brick wall in the narrow space between two windows, large boney head, narrow white shirt and striped neck tie
graffiti painting by bone head on a brick wall in the narrow space between two windows, large boney head, narrow white shirt and striped neck tie
graffiti painting by bone head on a brick wall in the narrow space between two windows, large boney head, narrow white shirt and striped neck tie

Dupont Street scenes

Posted: June 10, 2023 in construction, graffiti and street art, locations, old buildings
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part of a blue and white sign, with the words this way and an arrow pointing left

Another sunny spring day and another walk in the city.  This time we walked along Dupont with the occasional diversion to an alley or side street.  First stop?  First Last Coffee.  Always start with coffee!  In general, this blog covers Dupont between Spadina and Ossington and as usual, there may not be much order to the photos!

pictures and signs on the wall inside a coffee hop, First Last coffee, including a sign that says coffee please

below: The transparent domed Dupont subway station at the northwest corner of Spadina and Dupont

Dupont subway station, entrance on northwest corner of Dupont and Spadina, transparent structure with dome shaped curved roof

two women waiting outside Dupont subway station, red and white TTC sign,

below: Because of the redevelopment along Dupont (some buildings have been demolished but their replacements are still holes in the ground), Casa Loma can now be seen from the street.

blue sky with chain from crane (not in picture) hanging in the foreground, a large metal utility tower in the middle, and the top of Casa Loma roofline in the distance

below: Northwest corner of Dupont and Shaw

corner of an intersection that is one big construction site

below: Someone’s comment on the construction….

Construction site entrance sign that says gate 2. someone has added the word hell so that the sign now says gate to hell

below: … And another comment – he’s so happy to have a gun that he’s drooling.

black and orange construction sign with figure of man holding sign, happy face added to head and a machine gun put in his hands, altered sign

rebar sticking out the ground, construction site, as building begins to rise from the ground

shiny hoardings around a construction site reflect the bright orange signs and cones on the street beside it

a workman in a blue hardhat cleans the street between hoardings with large photos on them and orange cones blocking traffic

workman cutting pavement on dupont,

There are quite a few construction photos, maybe more than you’d like, but construction plays a large role in the scenery along Dupont these days.

workman helping a concrete truck back up into a construction site, traffic waiting,

construction reflections in a window

vacant building beside a grassy space, red brick, tagged on the side, old grey shingle roof, boarded up lower level window, construction fence around it

below: Joe’s Convenience chaos.

below: Reflections in a restaurant window

below: Dispensary of a different kind

below: Cyclists waiting for the lights to change.

a woman with a backpack walks by a window with many reflections in it

below: No energy today (all sold out?)

looking into a large warehouse interior with lots of windows, nine window panes

below: Looking at the northeast corner of Dupont and Dovercourt.  The interior of this old industrial building has been renovated and part of it is now a basketball school.

old building, three or four storeys high, made of many small panes of glass, on the northeast corner of Dupont and Dovercourt

below: View through the window

looking through a window to young men playing basketball inside

below: The billboard at Dupont and Dovercourt features an image by Maggie Groat and was part of the CONTACT Photography Festival.  More of her work is on display at Ontario Square (on the waterfront) and can be seen in a blog post, Double Pendulum, from a few weeks ago.

billboard with image by Maggie Groat, part of Scotiabank COntact photo festival, bottom part has been tagged

below: Silver Star Car Wash – I could say that it’s all washed up but considering the time that it takes for the development process – especially in a case like this where the application involves an amendment to the Official Plan and the Zoning By-law.

silver Star car wash on dupont street with a blue and white development notice in front

below:  Although it looks like a gathering of praying mantises, it’s really a symbol of a booming construction industry, boom lifts for rent.

cranes for rent, all parked outside a rental store

below: 888 Dupont (at Ossington) is one of the next buildings to be redeveloped but that is for another story on another blog post.

tall blue crane on construction site next to glass industrial warehouse building from 1921 at 888 Dupont street

below: An old rusty sign on the side of a building in an alley just off of Dupont tells us that J.F. Spencer, Sheet Metal Worker, once worked there.  old sign on the side of a building in an alley near Dupont street,

four houses on Dupont street

below: Looking along Dupont from Delaware Ave

Dupont street looking west from Delaware Ave

three two storey houses on dupont street

below: Probably the most affordable house on the street!

a small playhouse surrounded by leaves, in the side yard of a house

below: Some people have rose bushes in their front yard…

lone two storey house on Dupont, with large rose bush in front of it

below: … and some people have horses.

sculpture in a front yard of a horse up on its hind legs

below: A seaside Nova Scotia scene by Megan Oldhues.

mural on the side of a garage of a Nova Scotia waterside scene, sailboats, dock, flag,

grey car parked beside a garage with street art mural painted on it. Lots of red, orange, and yellow, blob-like characters

I’ll end this post with a few photos of the graffiti that I saw starting with this old Lovebot.

older Lovebot paste up on a grey brick wall, part of top of head has worn away

below: A pinkish red portrait of a young woman.

red stencil of a young woman's portrait

paste up graffiti on a metal pole, beside a wood pole full of old staples, black ink on paper paste up that says gewn 2020 squid

 below:  Voodoo Ninja, brought to you by Urban Ninja Squadron along with Ave Rage (or maybe it’s Average) who gets to play the victim.

4 paste ups on a box, all black on white. One is an urban ninja squadron collaboration with ave rage, and three are inky blotty drawings

 

old window in an old brick bilding, with street art that is peeling around the bottom part of the window

scrawled graffiti, happy face

pink rose on a large rose bush

until next time…. stay focused! … if possible….

small blue car parked on Dupont, with Ontario licence plate that says unfocused

faces on Howland

Posted: May 31, 2023 in graffiti and street art
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On the side of Fat Pasha Restaurant at the corner of Howland and Dupont there is a large mural of ten local Annex residents painted by Troy Lovegates.

whole Troy Lovegates mural, faces of 10 Annex residents both male and female

part of Troy Lovegates mural, faces

part of Troy Lovegates mural, two faces of young men in a variety of colours

Troy Lovegates mural, faces by the side door, including a younger person

Troy Lovegates mural, faces by a red door with word kitchen over the top of it, blue face of a woman, also an upper storey window

Troy Lovegates mural, faces by a red door, and two upper level windows, a line of light green garbage cans beside wall, two bikes,

Changes at Broadview and Eastern

Posted: May 27, 2023 in graffiti and street art, locations
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This row of old two storey row houses has been vacant for years. Recently the developer that owns the properties provided a couple of Toronto artists the opportunity paint the exterior.  This is the result.

large street art painting by nick sweetman and luvs aka moises on a row of empty houses at Broadview and Eastern

If you look carefully, you can see that Nick Sweetman and Luvs (aka Moises) have painted the word CHANGE across the front of the buildings.   As a theme for a mural on a redevelopment site in a city bursting at the seams with such sites, change seems very appropriate.

below: I’ve played with the colours a bit to highlight some of the letters.  You should be able to see C, H, and A across this image.

part of a street art mural with the word change written in gold and yellow on a multi coloured background, on old houses with boarded up windows

But the mural is more than colour and letters.  There are three animals featured here – pigeon, raccoon, and coyote  – all of which have adapted to changes and now thrive in urban environments.

below: A blue pigeon

street art mural of a large blue pigeon on the side of an empty old house

below: A pinkish marroonish reddish raccoon

a large street art raccoon on an old house, part of a mural by nick sweetman and luvs moises

below: A coyote with a dead leaf and new buds.

large mural with a coyote face, a large dead orange leaf,

Funding provided by Streetcar Developments

a row of old brick houses with boarded up windows has been covered with a large mural

upper window of an old vacant house now covered in many colours, mural

below: The houses to the north….

row of houses on the east side of Broadview near Eastern, two story, peaked roof,

poster on a boarded up window that says so far so good

Photos taken 25 May 2023

turning green…

Posted: May 15, 2023 in graffiti and street art, nature
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… with touches of pinks and other colours.  Spring time!

Here are a few photos of spring in the city that I collected as I walked in the past few weeks.

CN tower behind spring buds and new growth on trees

below: Spring time … when all the bugs and insects come out!

a large stuffed caterpillar on a deck of a house

below: As do the trees….  including this massive pink magnolia in full bloom.

a large pink magnolia tree in a front yard

a house with a large white blossom tree in the front yard

below: Flowers on a grave

York cemetery, tombstones in foreground, tall buildings of North York in the background

Ryerson university, Balzacs coffee, yellow umbrellas outside on spring day, people sitting outside, some people walking past

a man sits on a red bench on Pape Ave., East York

Pinehills cemetery, stones in the oreground, blossom trees in spring in the middle, and apartment building with blue features in the background

two houses on a street, with condo in background, spring, double car garages, white brick, black roofs, large tree in front

front yard, black metal trellis, blossom trees, one yellow tulip, fake stone front of house, stone walkway, brown wood fence, single white door for front door

a man wearing only shorts lies on a bench

back staircase of a brick building, upper apartment, with blue and pink planters on the stairs

metal box on sidewalk, bell box, painted with a monarch butterfly in a field of pale purple daisies

lots of dandelions in the grass by a sidewalk in front of a wall with street art on it, apartment building behind.

pussy willow in the foreground, tall buildings in the background

big old willow tree in spring in front of two houses

house with pale pink siding on upper floor, spring

reds on Leslie

Posted: April 13, 2023 in alleys, doors, graffiti and street art, locations
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and other little distractions near the south end of Leslie Street.

below:  The bright red walls of The Duke stand out at the corner of Queen Street East and Leslie Street.

Leslie and Queen Street east, looking west on Queen towards The Duke, a bright red building, restaurant and bar.

below: Just to the south of Queen, this red door marks Memory Lane

below: On the same brick building as the door above there is a window with eight panes of cloudy glass surrounded by a thin red line.

old glass window with 8 panes of glass, old, red window frame, brick building

This is 1233 Queen Street East and it was formerly Lee’s Food Products.  China Lily brands soy sauce was produced here for about 70 years.   The building was constructed in 1920 and was first used as a billiards house with apartments above.  Yeat Yum Lee bought the building in 1947 and turned it into offices and a factory for his food products.

There was an attempt last September to have the building designated as a heritage site but if the Lithos Group (the development company that owns the property) website is accurate, the old building is about to be demolished.  Another condo with blah (i.e. non-existent) street level planning.   The blue and white city development notice on the building says that there will be 132 residences on 8 storeys (with retail at street level).  There will be parking for only 10 cars.

below: Metal tower (container?) on the side of the Lees building.  The Duke is on the other side of Leslie Street.

large shiny metal column with a red exterior ladder, beside a brick building with red trim

below:  Front window of 1233 Queen Street East

front bay window of 1233 Queen East, red window frame, brown brick building, empty, soon to be demolished

below:  Like many empty buildings that are waiting to be demolished, the walls become a canvas for graffiti artists to take advantage of. Here, two identical faces with different tastes in drinks.

three paper graffiti wheatpaste on a red door. in the middle are two identical faces merged together back to back. on the left is a ridged glass drinking glass and on the right is another glass

below: Multicoloured diamond shaped ‘scales’ on the iguana…. or is it a chameleon who can’t decide what colour it needs to be?

on a concrete window sill, exterior, a graffiti chameleon coloured with many different diamonds

below:  More wheatpaste on a brick wall.

Two paper wheatpaste graffiti on a brick wall. One is a woman with wings on her back holding a very large paint brush over her shoulder, black paint dripping from it. The other is a hand holding a piece of white paper with a very large black ink blot or paint splash on it

below: The Duke, a solid brick building built by James Morin in the 1870s as the Morin House Tavern.  Morin had been a grocer who went into the brick business; he was the first in the east end to make mechanized pressed bricks.  It was renamed ‘The Duke of York’ in 1912 in honour of Prince Edward – Duke of York & Albany.  If you are interested in the history of this part of the city, Leslieville History has a webpage full of information and stories

The Duke, a bright red building, seen from Leslie Street south of Queen

red wall of the Duke, with a red door, and yellow hydro pole wire protectors

below: Fading MEN at The Duke (it’s a big step up…. or down)

wood door with small window in the top of it, on a red brick building

below: In a nearby alley, “Eat the rich”!  The fork is provided.

graffiti, red writing on white wall that says eat the rich

below: Beside, and in, the window of a Thai restaurant.  I was a bit hesitant about the “Piss Riffin” on the sticker but as it turns out, it’s a podcast where they talk about  things “that matter like life , love and most importantly piss!”  So consider yourself warned before you click that link!

looking in a window at at Thai woman mannequin, wall beside window has a mailbox with a Shoppers drug Mart flyer in it and a sticker on it.

below: Gas pumps on queen just because (I like the chaos of competing shapes and colours).

view of gas pumps at a station on Queen street east

below: Part of a mural by Rowell Soller

Mouth and nose, part of a mural by Rowell Soller,

below: Another nose nearby – but a much larger one!  Beware of nasal drip!

large 3 d sculpture of a nose, mounted on red board, over a door of a store, now closed and boarded up

on bright green background a black and white sticker of a mans face

on a wood fence, a large three dimensional metal star

at Croft and College

Posted: April 1, 2023 in alleys, graffiti and street art
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Most of these murals were painted in the summer of 2020.

below: “Protect your energy”

a painting on the side of a wall on Croft Ave., by elicser elliott, of two people with text protect your energy

below:A raccoon in pinks and purples, by Jeff Blackburn

mural featuring a large raccoon head in shades of pink and purple
part of a collaboration mural on a wall, yellow popsicle by Jeff Blackburn and an ebony jewelwing damselfly on a leaf by Nick Sweetman

below: by Nick Sweetman – two ebony jewelwings, a male and female along with a partially submerged frog with its tongue ready for action.  Jewelwings are a species of damselfly.

mural on a wall by Nick Sweetman, ebony jewelwing damselfly, frog with long tongue partially submerged in water

below: GETSO (or Getsofacto)

street art piece with trash bins in alley

below: A larger than life grinning Cheshire Cat by Christina Mazzulla.

below: Some people by Elicser Elliott hanging out in a doorway.

below: Love in the alleyshort metal pole in front of hydro meters painted purple, a sticker on the pole along with the word love in paint

Photos taken January 2023

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