Archive for the ‘locations’ Category

evening Oblivion

Posted: October 7, 2016 in events, locations
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I missed Nuit Blanch this year.  While I was away, I heard lots of good things about the installations at Nathan Phillips Square, including the fact that they will remain until the 10th of October.

Silly me went during the day.  It didn’t look too impressive then!
There were lots of tourists taking pictures.

a man is taking a picture of his wife and young son in front of the water and 3D toronto sign in Nathan Phillips Square, a girl in a stroller watches.

and schoolkids hanging out by the 3D Toronto sign.

a group of teenagers, school kids, after school, hanging out behind the letters of the 3D Toronto sign.

Oh right, it’s a night time, after dark sort of thing.  Come back after 7 p.m.

So last night I went back at 7 p.m.  …. but last night was also the first game of the Blue Jays playoff series against Texas and it was playing on a large screen in the square.  I watched the end of the game.  There wasn’t a very large turnout, but the atmosphere was great.  Everybody was in a good mood as the Blue Jays won 10 – 1.

people watching the Blue Jays baseball team playing a game on a large TV screen outside.

Shortly after the end of the game, the large 14 metre globe that represents the sun lit up.  “Death of the Sun” by Director X (Julien Lutz) began.

The sun starts as a swirling orange and yellow globe.

looking through the O of the Toronto sign to the yellow and orange projections on the large globe in front of City Hall, art installation from Nuit Blanch

It then turns orange before the colours die out and fade to nothing.

the 3D toronto sign lit up in white, city hall behind it in purple lights, and a large globe representing the sun glows orange as part of an art installation, night time photo.

At one point the sun lets off steam, gas, fog (whatever you want to call it) before it goes silent.

large white globe lets off steam or fog in Nathan Phillips square.

The end of the sun signals the start of “Pneuma”.  Images by Floria Sigismondi were projected onto a wall of water under the arches in the square in what appears to be a short film full of  symbols.

people standing around with their backs to the camera in the foreground, with a picture projected onto a wall of water under the arches at Nathan Phillips square in the background. The picture is of a blue woman on a red background.

images of people in triangular shapes projected onto a wall of water as part of an art installation, night time, lights of buildings in the background.

‘Oblivion’ is the name given to the collection of installations at City Hall.  Both of the artists come from the world of video.  Sigismondi has previously made videos for the like of Rihanna, David Bowie and Marilyn Manson while Director X has worked with Rihanna and Drake.

It was an interesting installation….  well done technically and fascinating to watch.

two hands silhouetted on a large yellow globe representing the sun, night time.

We tried to push the sun back into the sky, but we failed.

#nbTO2016 | #DirectorX | #pneuma | #floriasigismondi

Florence Street hoardings

Posted: September 9, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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There is a vacant lot on Florence Street that is now mostly hidden behind a wood fence.
These hoardings are now home to a mural by Adrian Hayles.

chain link fence with barbed wire above it on the left side and then a wood fence on the right, wood fence has been painted with a mural and here in the mural is a man walking a dog past a building

 The black letters in the mural spell the words Brockton Village.

a car is parked in front of a mural painted on wood hoardings.

part of a mural, stylized woman in high heels with seemingly no clothes, walks past silhouette of buldings

The blackness and the shininess of the mural makes it quite reflective.

two old mattresses lean against a fence that has been painted with a mural in black, red and light blue. Along a sidewalk with cars parked beside, a few small trees.

part of a mural, man walking a dog

 

Croft Street facelift

Posted: September 8, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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It’s after Labour Day but it’s still hot enough to be July.  I tried to walk for a while today but I didn’t last.  Air conditioning is my best friend this afternoon.  But all was not lost.  Even though I was only out for a short time, I walked along Croft Street and discovered that the south end (south of Vankoughnet) has been cleaned up and repainted.  If you don’t know Croft Street, it’s a street in name only.   It’s more like an alley in that it’s narrow with a lot of garages on it….but it’s also a lane that now has a number of residences on it.  I guess you could call it a hybrid, a little bit alley and a little bit street.

part of a garage door with a narrow wood door beside it, all covered with bright street art, abstract, mostly in red

What I really like about the street art here is that there is a cohesiveness to it.  It’s not all the same but it all works together.  Do I dare call it designer street art?

a row of garage doors in a narrow street, that have all been painted with street art.

below: A couple of murals that existed previously were left untouched.  On the left an oldie and on the right a new coat of paint.

two adjacent garage doors, one with a bright abstract design and the other with a garden scene

below: As well as a bright and cheerful coat of paint (and the occasional white wall!), the lane has been decorated with planters made of cement blocks and old plastic barrels.

a brick wall painted white with two vertical windows with metal grille in small square shapes, also painted white. between the windows on the sidewalk is an arrangement of cement blocks that have been made into planters with greenery and flowers growing in them.

an old blue plastic barrel that has been turned into a planter, with pink flowers and greenery, in front of a garage door that has been painted in abstract street art in bright colours.

close up details of two adjoining buildings, detail of where they meet, one is old rusty metal and the other is wood that has been spray painted pink, yellow and white.

street art on garages, ivy on walls, alley

abstract multicoloured street art on a wall and door, part of wall is also covered with ivy. old wooden barrel sits by wall

a rusty door on the upper level of an old garage in a lane, the lower level has been spray painted with street art and some of the paint is on the upper level too

an old beige plastic barrel that has been turned into a planter, with pink tall grasses and greenery, in front of a garage door that has been painted in abstract street art in bright colours.

The south end of Croft Street is at College Street.  There once was a mural on a wall at the corner of Croft and College that commemorated the fire of 1904.  Almost three years ago I blogged about it.   (3 years!)  John Croft died in that fire and it was for him that the street was named.  Anyhow, that mural is still there although it’s been hidden behind someone’s ugly tagging for more than a year.  Today it is also behind scaffolding.

below: Part of the John Croft mural that no longer exists.

blog_croft1

And now, because life (or, my life) is rarely linear, I’m going to jump around and look at the other end of Croft Street.   North of Vankoughnet there seemed to be an animal theme in street art that I saw.

below: birdo bunny with his ears at attention.

birdo street art of a rabbit head on a bright green garage door, grey head, pink inside of the long ears, purple and turquoise striped neck.

below: The memorial to Monty the cat is still there, again for at least 3 years, but now it’s someone’s little patio.  In case you are unfamiliar with this wall I have added a transcription of the poem written in Monty’s honour.

mural on a wall with lots of birds and fish and a poem as a memorial to a cat, with two chairs in front of it as well as a yellow planter with flowers in it. Did you know our Monty the cat?
King of Croft and all that
(Ask your dog. Ask your cat)
Did you give him a pet
Once you had met?
Or tickle his soft silken tum tum?
Did he tell you his tale in articulate meow
And share his affection with a rub of his brow?
His loss here has left us really quite blue
But remembering all of those of YOU
Who knew how to share a sweet kindness true
Who would pause on the way,
In midst of each day,
To offer wee beastie
affectionate feastie
In Memory of Monty
Thank you!

 

below: Unicorns vs Monsters.   And the winner is?

a garage door painted black with white creatures, 6 on one side of the red words Unicorns vs monsters and 6 white ones on the other side

below: Three cows standing in a field…. on a wall.

painting of three brown cows in a green field, painted on a garage door

below: No animal here…. but it must have been here recently and left its paw prints behind.

street art on a brown wood garage door, with a painting of white paw prints on blues and greens mounted near the top of the wall

below: An angular fox, or rather a triangular fox

a street art picture of a fox made of triangles in orange black and white

below: More animals but I’m not sure if it’s art, or if someone has a lot of watering cans they’re trying to keep organized.  The bottom yellow one is probably not a pokemon, right? Of course I could be missing something – it wouldn’t be the first time!

watering cans hanging along the side of a garage in an alley, many of them are in the shape of yellow rubber duckies and one is a light blue fish shape. A few are little silver coloured metal buckets.

below: Leaving the animal theme behind, mind over matter.

against an ivy covered wall a brown piece of wood sits. on it someone has written mind matter . The word mind is written on top of the word matter and there is a horizontal line between the two words.

below: 74B likes grids.  The metal stripping on the brown door has been there for at leasat three years but the coloured stripes on the garage are more recent.

a garage door painted in yellow, red and blue vertical stripes as well as two wide horizontal stripes, the walls are green shingle and the entry door is black with a grid of metal stripping on it.

below:  All stories and all blog posts need an ending so I’ll stop here.  The end.

a red stop sign to which someone has stuck a sticker that says driving so now the sign says stop driving

aging faces in Kensington

Posted: September 1, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Wood cracks.  Metal rusts. Paint fades and paint peels, its just what happens to paint when its exposed to the elements.  Street art painted on a surface suffers the same fate.  Nothing lasts forever and sometimes a mural’s life span is quite short.  Sometimes other factors come into play – street art is defaced or altered in some way.  Tags cover it; words get written on it.  That too is the nature of street art.

black stencil of a woman's head and hands. Also an old paper paste up of a person that is badly torn around the edges. A very simple face has been drawn above it in pink

below: I love what the weather has done to this woman’s face.  Aging with grace and dignity.  The texture of the old wood adds an element of depth and character to her as well.

street art painting of part of a woman's face on a wooden fence, old and faded and the wood is starting to crack

below:  One slat replaced.   I’m sure it wasn’t the artist’s intent, but the gaps in the wood look like bars in a cage, or those metal bars you often see on windows.

street art painting of part of a woman's face, in blues, on a wood fence, vertical pieces of wood with slight gaps between the wood

below: Broken chin, but still watching the world pass by on Baldwin Street.

anser face on an old wood gate that is wearing out, broken across the bottom. bikes parked to the left of the gate

below: Yelling at the bushes.

a very colourful and stylized face painted on a wall, large open mouth, looks like fiendish laughter, showing off large white teeth. A large green weed, or small shrub, has started growing in front of it.

below: Eyes are mysterious things.  I have never been able to draw them properly and I am in awe of those who can.  Even more so if the eyes communicate something, some emotion or expression.

eyes, street art, staring straight ahead. part of a large face painted on a wall in green tones.

below: I have always been intrigued by this face.  A photo of the original painting hangs on one of my walls.   I still find her mesmerizing.  Those blue eyes still stare at the world.  Is she looking through a veil?  Or is she able to see through all the nonsense that the world throws at her?

street art painting of part of a woman's face by anser, on olive green backgound, partially painted over and with words written in front of it.

below: A devilish child is still in good shape.

two bright orange stencils of faces. one is a laughing child with devil horns and the other is a woman's head.

street art painting of part of a woman's face, in purple . eyes closed, looking down, with hew lock and key on the door that she's painted on, wearing a necklace

street art painting of part of a woman's face, bright red hair, greenish face, blue background, eyes closed,

white line drawing on a rusty metal door of a woman's face, slightly open mouth with lots of teeth, curly hair

part of a mural on a wall showing two Easter Island type heads

below: “Without money we’d all be rich”.  That’s the kerb (curb) that runs along the bottom of the picture.  Her whole face was not there in the first place.

street art painting of part of a woman's face, on a wall, in greens and purples, she is looking to the left

below: And animal faces too!

part of a Uber 5000 mural, a dog with a tiny blue hat and a yellow birdie on a bicycle

street food…. sort of

Posted: August 29, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Toronto’s first “street” art – a mural on the pavement, painted on the street itself.   It’s located on Baldwin Street in the Kensington market area.

below: The mural was painted on Pedestrian Sunday (28 Aug) when the streets were closed anyhow.

a young man and a young woman painting on the street, painting part of a mural on a street in Kensington market area

Murals on the street aren’t legal in this city.  In 2015 City council voted against making them legit.  Instead, they allowed this one to go ahead as part of the StART Road Mural Pilot Project.  Plans are afoot for a few more to be painted in the next couple of months.  The city has imposed some restrictions as to where they can be painted, rules such as the murals need to be away from intersections and be on streets with a low volume of traffic.   It is rumoured that future road murals will be on Condor Avenue (west of Greenwood subway yard), Lauder Avenue (near Dufferin and St. Clair), Hiawatha Road (Little India), and lastly, somewhere in North York

below: The next two pictures were taken from the upper level of the adjacent parking structure (where I had a chat with a security guard, private property and all that).

view from above of a mural on a street, fruits and vegetables, carrotes, eggplant, watermelon, beet, mushroom, lemon,

The pilot murals are all the result of work by community groups – people within a community working together to produce something representative of that community.

view from above of a mural on a street, fruits and vegetables, carrotes, eggplant, watermelon, beet, mushroom, lemon,

below: Painting a raspberry.  The shapes were drawn by artist Victor Fraser and then painted by a number of artists and volunteers.  It is an acrylic based paint that will wear off in 6 to 9 months.

a young man paints part of a pink raspberry that is in a mural of fruits and vegetables, on a street in Kensington

below: From street level – peas in a pod, a clove of garlic, a bunch of spring onions, an artichoke, a banana, and in the distance a lot more!

from low on street level, view of a mural painted on the street of fruit and vegetables, peas in a pod, a bunch of green opnions, a raspberry, with other food farther down the street,

This project was organized by Stas Ukhanov and supported by the Kensington Market BIA.

oldies on Camden Street

Posted: August 16, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Well, not really Camden Street, but an alley that runs perpendicular to the street….  If the lane has a name I don’t know what it is.  Google maps doesn’t even include it.  It’s a very short alley that runs both north and south from Camden street and it doesn’t go anywhere.  Both sections were painted with murals 9 or 10 years ago.   Amazingly, they have survived.

Let’s start with the south side of Camden Street.

below: Mural Project, “The walls won’t know what hit them”.  The mural was painted in 2006 youth from the   Harbourfront and Cecil Community Centres as part of the City of Toronto’s Graffiti Transformation Project.

part of a mural in an alley, yellow background, blue pistol with the word mural in large red capital letters, flag at the end of the barrel that says , white hand holding the grip with finger on the trigger.
below: The mural is painted in a quasi cartoon style.

blog_art_or_vandalism_mural

below: She’s upset and she’s expressing her hurt and anger with spray paint seems to be the start of the story.

part of a mural in an alley, a woman with bright yellow hair is spray paint out of a can with a word bubble that says "He crossed me first"

below: My knowledge of slang is limited, and this is 10 years old but this sheezy is cool.  It’s probably as simple as “this sure is cool”, i.e. spray painting graffiti is cool.

This seezy is off the heezy are the words in a word bubble coming out of the mouth of a man painted in a mural, short black hair, wearing a red shirt, and spraying a can of pink spray paint,

below: Oh no! I always laugh when I hear this expression these days… is there anywhere in Toronto where property values are going down? Okay, okay, so it’s part of the story – she’s complaining that someone has sprayed graffiti somewhere nearby, the vandalism part of the story.   The angry young woman or the “sheezy heezy” guy above have been busy in her neighbourhood.

street art, picture of woman with orange hair, wearing white gloves, hands on sides of head, words saying "On no, my property value went down"

below:  As you can see, a couple of things were in the way as I was taking pictures.   I am not sure exactly how the plot of the mural progresses from here because I couldn’t see the whole thing.  There are gaps in the story line.   A few missing pages so to speak.

looking down one wall of an alley, a mural is painted on it, in the foreground is a woman in profile (she's looking down the lane), very yellow hair. Two cars are parked in front of the mural

below: Flesh tones as dots in the face of woman who plays an unknown role in this story – the mystery woman?

part of a woman's face, painted in dots, bright red lipstick, brown hair, looking at the viewer

below:  I suspect that this is the “We’ve got to get rid of the graffiti” part of the story.  Is it improper to make comments about Rob Ford and his anti-graffiti program here?  I don’t want to insult the mural or the project behind it because I think that the Graffiti Transformation Project is an excellent program.

scene in a mural, a football helmet wearing head, with words I wish my school had an art program, also two men talking about how it's time to take out the trash

below:  If there was a mural on the other side of the alley, it’s long gone.

a red car is backed into an alley, and is parked there, along the wall beside the car is a lot of graffiti spray painted and written on the wall. There is a stair case in the back part of the wall.

A short walk across Camden Street to the other half of the alley….

below: You can see the taller buildings on Richmond Street West but you can’t get there from here.
And like most downtown alleys, garbage bins are a dominant feature.

looking down a dead end alley, lots of blue rubbish bins that are slightly overflowing, tall buildings on either side. The back of a two stroey building straight ahead with taller buildings behind

below: At the entrance to the alley.  There are words under the window by the sunflowers that say that this painting is also the work of the Harbourfront/Cecil Community Centre’s Graffiti Transformation Project, 2007.

wall of an alley with a long window with worn painting around it of flowers and sunflowers

below: A very low window with green arrows

a low window, close to the ground, with a green arrow painted around it.

orange geometric street art, with the words 'stay alive' written in orange beside it

two old windows with rusted and bent metal grille on the windows, a street art painting of a woman in profile with eyes closed is between the windows, White hair

below: And last, I’ll end with a weather comment because we’ve all been talking (complaining?) about it these days – someone’s a bit overdressed for this August weather although it doesn’t seem to bother him.  Maybe he knows something we don’t.   Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking.

street art on a grey brick wall, head of a young man in a fur lined hood of a parka

Stay cool!

cleaned up and looking good

Posted: August 16, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations, public art
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There is a mural on Richmond Street West of a boy lying on his stomach, feet in the air, as he searches on what looks to be a smart phone.  Not long after this mural was painted, it was tagged with ugly black markings.  There was only one tag but it ruined the picture.   Sometime in the recent past, the mural has been cleaned up and/or re-painted.   It’s great to see it restored and looking terrific!

mural of a boy lying on his stomace, with his feet in the air. He islooking at an electronic device

The painting is by Mikha.  Other images of his work can be found on his instagram page.

late afternoon, Graffiti Alley

Posted: August 12, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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As you may know, every few months I wander down Rush Lane and all the other lanes that make up Graffiti Alley on the south side of Queen West.  There is usually something new on the walls and hydro poles and there are often people watching opportunities as well.   Wednesday’s walk did not disappoint.   Here is the photographic evidence – some street art that I saw for the first time and some worth a second look… and even a person or two.

mural of a large face with paint brush by the mouth, wearing glasses, mural seems to be looking at a car that is parked in front of it, with reflections of the mural in the car window

below: Taking selfies is an artform in itself.

two young women pose in front of a colourful mural in an alley, while around the corner of the building a young man is looking at his phone,

below: Making a video in one of the side alleys.

making a music video in front of the street art in an alley, a young man in white t shirt is dancing to the music (and lip synching too I think) while another man, bald, is filming him and recording him.

below:  A home for hundreds of stickers, all nicely frames together

The words noo ideal painted above a window in an alley. The window is covered with a metal grille as well as hundreds of stickers

below: This poser bunny takes the spotlight.

a poser bunny painted on the side of a building, spotlighted by the afternoon sun, the wall behind him is in shadow

below: A new piece, with some older poser bunnies in the background.

street art on a wall in an alley, text starting with G, two yellow eyes as well

below: When I first saw this piece (by elicser?) I thought that he had his heart in his hands.  As I look at it more, I’m not so sure.   Any ideas?  Also, “How long do we have?”  An open question, an incomplete question, a mysterious question, or a question of philosophy.  You see, one question leads to another.

street art and graffiti in an alley, on a wall and in a doorway. On the wall is a headless man holding a pink blob in his hands, on the doorway is a lot of graffiti and tags along with the words, How long do we have?

below: This one isn’t new and isn’t particularly outstanding, but the way the sun was shining on it caught my eye.  A bit of a silly comment – I’ll assume that W C doesn’t stand for water closet!

wood double garage door, center opening, with a large street art W and C painted on it.

a large orange text graffiti across a large door and on the wall on both sides, all in orange, with three orange traffic cones in front of it.

below: Donald Trump and the lovebot share a pole.  Poor lovebot  😦

two stickers on a pole. The top one is a lovebot sticker and the bottom one is Donald Trump's head on a naked man's body.

below: Street art by gems

text graffiti by street artist gems, words spells gems in oranges and blues.

below: One more new street art piece

street art text painting in blue

below: Talking trash says “She’s bound to put a blanket on my bed”.

trash bins outside a restaurant. One of them has had words written on it,

below: A small blue airplane and another little blue thing, all that remains of a larger mural painted long ago.

very small street art painting of a blue airplane amongst tags

below: Apparently he doesn’t miss us?

small line drawing graffiti of a person with a word bubble that says I don't miss you

below: Oh no! Stikman is behind bars and lovebot’s been restrained.

a stikman is on a wall behind a metal grille and lovebot is on a metal pole to which a metal strap has been placed, over top of lovebot

below: A seat and a smoke at break time. Maybe he’s texting his girlfriend about the weirdos he sees in the alley. Or maybe he took my picture and he’s adding it to his instagram collection of strangers in the lane! 🙂

a man is sitting on a small orange plastic stool in an alley. He has a yellow apron on. He has a cell phone and a cigarette in his hands.

below: A protest piece.  A play on the national anthem. Oh Canada our home on native land.

street art on a wall in an alley, Canadian flag with background colours changed to Native flag colours, and words that say Oh Canada Our Home On Native Land. Honour our treaties.

 

below: One word of warning if you plan to walk this alley in the late afternoon, you may be dodging cars that are trying to avoid Queen Street traffic.

close up of the side of a car as it drives past in an alley

below: But you’ll also be entertained by those who get stuck.  It’s especially amusing when it’s the more aggressive drivers who are thwarted.   It is a working alley, not a street, after all.

cars trying to go in two different directions as they pass a truck parked in an alley

between Pape and Donlands

Posted: August 8, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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I decided to head to Pape and Danforth on Friday, on a very hot & humid afternoon.   The Danforth was just beginning to get ready for the Taste of the Danforth weekend festival.  I stopped for a bottle of water and tried to find a bit of shade while I figured out where to walk.  The street was still quiet.  The day was hot and humid and no one was moving quickly.   Not many photos to be had there.   Instead, I decided to walk a few of the alleys north of the Danforth between Pape and Donlands.

trucks parked on the street, a small ferris wheel being set up pon a street, stores, barricades

below: No famous graffiti artist has left their mark in your neighbourhood? No problem, make your own!
A collection of icons with even the bricks painted into the picture.

copies of famous street art painted on a garage door. Brick background has been painted on too. Mona Lisa, Campbell soup cans, the woman lifting the corner of the wall to sweep things under it. Einstein holding a placard that says love is the answer. A little dog by Albert Einstein's feet.

below: Three garage doors with street art including one by spud.

three garages in an alley, each with street art painted on their doors.

below: Cruz1art (aka Angel Carillo) and a girl power pink skull by dudeman

a low concrete building in an alley with street art by Cruz 1 art, one says girl power. Large pink skull, basketball hoop in the foreground.

below: “Turn the lights off and look to the sky”

street art in an alley of a woman with long hair, wearing sunglasses, a tag beside it.

below: I’m used to seeing ‘No Trespassing’ or ‘Keep Out’ signs but not so many ‘Keep Off’.

an old rusted sign that says 'keep off' attached tot he top of a chainlink fence, in between two garages in an alley

below: A happy Uber5000 birdie knitting away, a close knit street art painting.

an uber 5000 art piece on a garage door, yellow uber birdie is knitting something with blue wool. the words say "close knit"

below: Another creature by Cruz1

blue animal creature painted on a garage door, green shrub growing in front of part of it, art by cruz 1 in an alley

below: Two more painted garage doors, very linear, very stylized and abstracted.

two single car garages in an alley, both with street art paintings on them, also the back of the houses behind them in the lane.

below: A play on the word ‘cool’.  Snowy words and a penguin with sunglasses.  Unfortunately it didn’t make me feel cooler but only slightly nostalgic for winter.  Only slightly!

street art mural on a garage door in a lane, a penguin standing upright wearing sunglasses. The words, written in large blue letters with snow on them, What's cooler than sum glasses on?

below: On the left is “destroy and rebuild” and on the right is “We are 1, [illegible] mi gente siempre”.  The last bit is Spanish and translates to “My people forever”

two garages in an alley with art on their doors, on the left is an abstract in blue and orange with the words destroy and rebuild. On the right is a woman's face. She's slightly blue. Words written beside her are: we are 1, mi gente siempre

below: I think there was a point to this picture, but I’m not sure what it is.

the top of two pieces of wood in a picket fence type gate, pointed tops, wood,

below:  Since this stretch of the Danforth has been “Greektown” for as long as I can remember, it makes sense to find street art in Greek.  In this case, Greek love.

garage door painted bright blue, with the Greek word for love written on it in large letters

below: A slight chuckle, the next garage door is the translation.

garage door painted with a large cursive lettering word love in pinks on blue

below:  Insert a little rant about horrid TTC concrete fences here.  At least someone has found a way to brighten one of them up.   This one is right beside the entrance to Donlands subway station.

concrete fence with paint drip art on it

A few more pictures….

garage door in a laneway covered with streetart painting

geometric street art on a garage door, pink, grey and black

below: A survivor. A lone white rose amongst dead roses.  May you all survive the heat of summer!

one white rose growing against a fence in an alley , with lots of dead roses around it.

 

 

 

phlegm’s progress

Posted: August 5, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations, public art
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British mural artist Phlegm has been painting a large mural on the side of 1 St. Clair West.   The first time I saw it, was on the 14th of July when it looked liked this:

below: The white background of the mural was painted first.

a street in Toronto, St. Clair Ave., with an older nine storey building with concrete facing, on the side, above the level of the stores beside it, is the outline of the start of a mural. All painted white, a seated figure.

I have been watching it, checking up on it every couple of days.  At first I took photos fairly frequently because I had no idea how long it would take before the mural was finished.

below:  19th July

a verylarge mural on the side of a building is in the process of being painted. An white outline of a seated person with their knees drawn up, one leg has been painted with a design in black

As it turns out, there is a lot of detail in the mural!  It slowly took shape.

below: 21st July

a very large mural on the side of a building is in the process of being painted. An white outline of a seated person with their knees drawn up, one leg has been painted with a design in black

below: Fast forward to today…. the mural is almost finished. …
but wait!  Isn’t that the CN tower on the shoulder?

large black and white mural by phlegm of a seated person with their knees bent up, made of tiny houses and buildings and other structures

below: Hey!  It is the CN tower.  And isn’t that the Gooderham/flatiron building?  And that building with the little dome, isn’t that on Yonge street?

close up of mural made up of toronto landmarks like the cn tower and the gooderham flatiron building

below: There’s the ROM and its ‘crystal’ too!   This is the ‘bottom’ of the figure and in this photo two things become clearer.  First, the scale of the project and just how big the mural is becomes apparent.  Second, the mural is of a person coming out of the earth, being pulled out by the roots almost.  But is it a person?  Or is it a living city?

the bottom part of a mural, man in scaffolding is still working on it, black on white, pictures of buildings.

below: The head part – play ‘spot the building’!  Is that old city hall?

head part of phlegm mural

below: Scalliwags is on one of the knees along with a lot of trees.

knees part of the mural

below: And last, the feet with more roots at the heels

feet of a person in a mural made of paintings of trees and buildings, roots growing out of the heels. satelite dish in the mural and on the building beside the mural

This project is also a part of the STEPS Initiative program.

This post also appears in a blog about street art. Phelgm’s Progress.

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