Archive for the ‘locations’ Category

legs, we walk on them

Posted: May 15, 2015 in locations, people, public art
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Figures and Models of Surfaces,
by Isabelle Wenzel,
on King St. West at John (by Metro Hall).
Part of CONTACT Photography Festival.

Six people walking on a sidewalk. They are walking past a row of large pictures of legs in various strange poses on bodies with no upper parts.

“I’ve got two legs from my hips to the ground
And when I move ’em they walk around
And when I lift ’em they climb the stairs
And when I shave ’em they ain’t got hairs.”

 “I’ve Got Two Legs” by Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam

That’s the sort of thing that went through my head as I took these photos.

A man in brown pants and a brown and white striped shirt is holding a drink in his hand as he walks past two large pictures of legs.

a man's leg and black boot stick out from under a picture of a woman's leg with a yellow shoe, on a bright orange background. A man is sitting on a ledge behind the photo.

All photos are self-portraits of the photographer.
Legs as sculptural elements – colour, shape and composition.
Legs as objects – objectification of the legs is now complete.

people in front of 4 large photos of legs by Isabelle Wenzel. A couple are saying goodbye, two men in suits are walking together, a woman is looking at the pictures as she walks past and another woman is walking out of the photo on the right.

These legs were made for walking.  Not.
Just walk on by.
More silly thoughts as I watch people walk past the pictures.

Two young women are alking past a few large, larger than life photos of legs. The women have their arms up in the air.

below:  The blue tones of Metro Hall provide a backdrop.

A tall bluish colored glass building with a sidewalk in front. Along the sidewalk is a row of short young trees with new leaves. There is also a row of large photos of legs on the sidewalk between the building and the street.

Fun.  Great installation.

Edouard’s Toronto

Posted: May 15, 2015 in locations, public art
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Edouard
a CONTACT photography festival exhibit,
VIA Rail Concourse (i.e. where the trains depart from)

Edouard LeBouthillier documented his life in Toronto in the 1970’s and early 1980’s with Polaroid pictures.  On the back of the photos he noted dates and places.  He also took pictures of Toronto buildings and landmarks that were newly constructed or in the process of being torn down (e.g. the old Eatons store at Yonge & Dundas).

There are two exhibits of his work being shown at CONTACT this year.  The first, shown below, is on the east side of the VIA Rail Concourse of Union Station where a number of large prints are on display.  If you have trouble finding them, look for VIA platforms 12 and 13.

A second Edouard exhibit is at Art Metropole (1490 Dundas West) and it consists of some of the original polaroids that show his domestic life.

below:  At new City Hall.
In front of the tulip garden on the left and lying by the fountain on the right.

large photographic prints on display at Union Station

large photographic prints on display at Union Station

below: Edouard was at the CNE on the 17th of August 1977.

large photographic prints on display at Union Station

below: On the left is Ed’s Wacky Wirld store, 1977

large photographic prints on display at Union Station

under the Millwood Bridge

Posted: May 14, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Millwood Bridge
also known as the Leaside Bridge

I first visited this site late in March.  For one reason or another I didn’t get around to adding the photos that I took that day to this blog.  I was back yesterday on another grey day.  There are now leaves on the trees and the graffiti on the concrete has been painted over.

looking along the length of the bridge from just underneath it at one end. Sloping ground in the picture, as are concrete supports and the metal steel girders supporting the road above.

below:  The Don River flows under the bridge.  In the distance, top right, is the Don Valley Parkway.

steel girders under the Millwood bridge with the train tracks and Don River below. Lots of bolts holding this bridge together!

graffiti on the yellow girders under the bridge. The concrete supports at the end of the bridge are also visible and also covered with graffit.

yellow girder in the foreground, the cat walk and metal structure of the bridge in the background. Graffit on the girder including the word 'scarey' in white letters.

Catwalk under the Millwood bridge, looking down almost the whole length of it. A person is on the catwalk in the distance.

yellow metal girder covered with scribbles in black, red, and green.
There was also some graffiti and street art on the concrete supports at the north end of the bridge.  These have now been painted over.  The graffiti on the metal portions of the bridge remains.

below: Two of the paintings that are now gone.

Street art painting of an eagle attacking a snake.

graffiti tag that says Mozie in large letters, blue on the top and a dark burgundy colour on the bottom

Lovebot didn’t want to stick to the paint on the girder but he hung around long enough to get a picture.

lovebot sticker on a yellow metal girder under a bridge

under Glen Road

Posted: May 11, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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All bridges have a character of their own including the Glen Road bridge.

below: Looking east toward Glen Road from the Beltline Trail that follows the Yellow Creek.  Photo taken a couple of weeks ago just before the leaves started growing.

trail beside a creek in a ravine with lots of trees in early spring before there are any leaves on the trees. A woman is walking two dogs on the trail and in the distance there is a bridge over the ravine.

The following photos were taken under the north side of the bridge. On the day that I was there, it was impossible to cross the creek – something to do in the future!

graffiti on the concrete supports under a bridge - words 'power to the creative people"
graffiti on the concrete supports under a bridge - large symbol with eye, yellow sun and serpent like shapes, high on a pillar up near the green metal girders of the bridge

graffiti on the concrete supports under a bridge - looking up from under the bridge - some graffiti on the concrete pillars but they are hidden behind the green metal girders.

graffiti on the concrete supports under a bridge - stencil of a little green alien and the words, "I want to believe"

graffiti on the concrete supports under a bridge - along the back wall, mostly tags, one picture of a man's face that has a big grey X through it. On the ground in a corner is a mattress covered with a blanket or sleeping bag.

graffiti on the concrete supports under a bridge - tags around the base of the pillars

whos yo daddy? graffiti

graffiti under a bridge

graffiti on the concrete supports under a bridge - colourful tags. Some are older and are starting to peel

graffiti on the concrete supports under a bridge - a pile of trash beside graffiti covered sections of the bridge

wallnoize

Posted: May 4, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Graffiti and/or street art on the north side of the railway underpass on Bloor St. West between Dundas West and Perth Avenue.  It is also by the Bloor GO station and where the West Toronto Railpath crosses Bloor Street.

Painted April 17, 18 and 19, 2015 by 26 artists led by Cruz1

looking along a sidewalk that runs under a railway bridge. Along the right hand side are a series of graffiti paintings.

street art painting under a railway bridge - big multicoloured lips, partially open revealing big white teeth

street art - brightly coloured, fluorescent like, giant squid, a steet art painting signed by Nick Sweetman

street art painting of an elephant standing upright, only upper part shown, wearing a plaid jacket, carrying a cane over his shoulder, a small hat on his head, and holding a flower in his trunk. A green train runs across the top of the painting. signed by blackburn

Street art painting of many cans of spray paint, some with faces on them.

Street art under a railway overpass as seen from on top of the bridge. A painting of a bumblebee flying towards a bright yellow and orange flower as well as a painting that is done is blues can be seen.

street art painting under a railway bridge - purple whale

street art painting under a railway bridge - astronaut's helmet

Man walking along a sidewalk towards a railway bridge. One side of the underpass has been painted with street art pictures.

street art painting under a railway bridge - a large woman's face, she is breathing on a little man who is standing on her outstretched hand.

street art painting under a railway bridge - a young man and a young woman on skateboards

street art painting under a railway bridge - an ugly blue creature with nasty look on his face, yellow stuff oozing from the corner of his mouth

woman walking along a sidewalk under a railway bridge. There is a graffiti picture of two people skateboarding beside her.

street art painting under a railway bridge - a pink, maroon and red bullblue street art painting of a wrecked sailing ship partially submerged as she sinks stern first

street art painting under a railway bridge - a mn with orange skin, large head and twisted pipes for arms. A bis S is coming out of the top of his head

east side of mural under the railway bridge - series of street art paintings by different artists, playground behind, street scene beyond.

street art painting in geometrics, especially trianges and angled lines.

street art painting under a railway bridge - a long yellow snake curld up amongst purple and red swirls

street art painting under a railway bridge - multicolored skulls

street art painting under a railway bridge - a white hand with finger pointing to the left

This was spudbomb was added a few days later.

street art under a railway underpass - tag spud and stencil that says spudbomb
street art under a railway underpass - pink lips and a blue bomb with a smiling face on it by spud

street art under a railway underpass - yellow stars, 3 D blocks and some pink flowers

 This was another StreetARToronto project.

Douglas Coupland goes condo

Posted: April 29, 2015 in locations, public art
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On the southeast corner of Don Mills and Sheppard (across Sheppard Ave East from Fairview Mall) some striped poles have sprouted.  Running southwest, at a 45 degree angle from the streets, are 4 tall striped poles with pointy tops; they look like tall skinny cylinders.  They are part of Douglas Coupland’s latest public art installation in the city, ‘Four Seasons’.

below:  Looking southeast, the four poles representing the four seasons rise up in the public space between buildings.  Autumn, of which you can only see a little, is in the foreground, and is followed by summer, spring, and in the distance, winter.

Four tall striped poles designed by Douglas Coupland as a public art installation. The pole in the foreground, spring, can only be partially seen. The winter pole is in the distance.

If you have seen the Douglas Coupland exhibit either at MOCCA or at the ROM, you will realize that bright coloured stripes seem to be part of his trademark.  The first time that I saw these poles I thought of Douglas Coupland and I wasn’t surprised to find that he in fact was the artist who designed them.

below:  Also part of the art installation are three poles that stand next to the new condo development along Don Mills Road.

Looking across the street (Don Mills Rd) at a new condo development. Three tall striped poles are beside one of the buildings as part of an art installation. The building closest to the poles is low rise (2 or 3 storeys) but the building behind is a much taller structure.

below: The ‘winter’ pole is mostly white stripes.
It is the farthest from the intersection of Don Mills and Sheppard.

Very tall striped cylindrical pole with mostly white stripes with a few greys and only one or two pale colours. Looking up from the base of it towards the tip, two tall condos, one on either side, are in the photo too.

It was a damp grey day when I took the photo below.  The result is a grey photo of a grey intersection.  It is also an example of Toronto suburban planning, or the lack thereof.

Over looking a major city intersection, Don Mills Road and Sheppard Ave East. Lots of traffic. Some taller apartment buildings from the sixties and seventies are in the background. One of the tall cyllindrical poles of Douglas Coupland's art installation is in the foreground.

A brightly coloured striped cylindrical shaped pole in front of a tall condo building.

Best Beach, and others, on Bay

Posted: April 21, 2015 in locations, public art
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The last block at the south end of Bay Street is closed to traffic at the moment because of the continuing, i.e. never ending, construction on Queens Quay.  In that block there are now three pieces of public art.  The most recent addition is a large photograph by Sarah Ann Johnson that covers a large portion of the west wall of the Westin Harbour Castle Conference Centre.

Very large photograph of a beach scene with sailboats out on the horizon and trees on both sides, superimposed with whimsical drawings of circles and swirls in blues, purples, greens, reds and yellows . It is mounted on the side of a two storey concrete building, the bunker like Westin Hotel and Conference Centre

‘Best Beach’ is a welcome addition to the bunker-like structure of the Westin Hotel.  It is part of this year’s CONTACT photography festival and it is scheduled to remain here until the end of December.  StreetARToronto and Partners in ART also played a role in bringing this project to life.

close up of the lake in a Very large photograph of a beach scene with sailboats out on the horizon and trees on both sides, superimposed with whimsical drawings of circles and swirls in blues, purples, greens, reds and yellows

UPDATED: There is now a youtube video on this installation, produced by the City of Toronto.

 Two small sculptures are also on this block, one on the SW corner of Harbour and Bay and the other on the NW corner of Queens Quay and Bay.  Both are difficult to take photos of!

First, ‘The Wave’ by Ivan Kostov

Public art on a corner called 'The Wave' by Ivan Kostov. curved pieces of coloured metal on top of a greenish pedestal.

Looking up from underneath a sculpture, Public art on a corner called 'The Wave' by Ivan Kostov. curved pieces of coloured metal on top of a greenish pedestal. A highrise condo building is behind.

Second, ‘Nautilius’ by Judith Schwarz

Looking upward from below at a public art installation called 'Nautilius' by Judith Scwarz which is a two dimensional cut out piece of metal of a snail-like spiral, mounted about ten to 12 feet off the ground on square sided metal poles.

Toronto has a habit of cluttering up its sidewalks and public art like this one tends to become just another part of the mess. There is no overall plan. Placement of public art might look great on paper but does anyone take into consideration all the other stuff? Stuff that doesn’t appear on architects’ drawings – the garbage bins, newspaper boxes, TTC signs, phone booths, no parking signs, hydro poles, and such things like that.

Public art installation called 'Nautilius' by Judith Scwarz which is a two dimensional cut out piece of metal of a snail-like spiral, mounted about ten to 12 feet off the ground on square sided metal poles. It is an a sidewalk amongst a lot of other things, TTC sign, condos, construction fences, a parked bike, construction signs etc.

And lastly, I couldn’t resist this little guy who’s stuck on a Bell payphone.

A sticker of a one eyed creature, black drawing on white, is on the blue part of a Bell payphone.

 

hanging around Union Station

Posted: April 20, 2015 in locations, public art
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If you have recently stood on the platform at Union subway station, northbound to Finch side, you will have seen the new artwork being installed there.   The platform is still under construction and not all the art panels have been installed but this is what it looked like this past weekend.

new art, pictures of people on the subway, on glass panels installed at Union Station platform - a seated woman picture on the left. The panel on the right has not yet been installed, there is a space and the construction behind it is easily visible

There are 166 glass panels, each just over 2m high (7 feet) and when it’s finished it will cover the length of the subway platform, a length of 170m (about 500 feet).

new art, pictures of people on the subway, on glass panels installed at Union Station platform

At the moment they are installed in such a way that they act as mirrors as well as pictures.

new art, pictures of people on the subway, on glass panels installed at Union Station platform - several panels with pictures of people but it is highly reflective so you can see the people waiting on the platform as well

The piece is titled ‘zones of immersion’ and it is the work of Canadian stained glass artist Stuart Reid.  The people on these panels are based on drawings that Reid made as he rode on the TTC.

new art, pictures of people on the subway, on glass panels installed at Union Station platform - a sitting woman and a standing woman. An exit sign is reflected in the glass

I’m not sure they will be so highly reflective once the installation is complete and the construction behind them finished.  But in the meantime, a little fun can be had!

new art, pictures of people on the subway, on glass panels installed at Union Station platform several panels with pictures of people but it is highly reflective so you can see the people waiting on the platform as well

new art, pictures of people on the subway, on glass panels installed at Union Station platform - two blue glass panels, one with a woman's face

new art, pictures of people on the subway, on glass panels installed at Union Station platform - 3 men sitting on the subway, all facing the viewer

new art, pictures of people on the subway, on glass panels installed at Union Station platform, a woman's face in profile. You can see traces of the construction behind her.

surrounded by the colours of Kensington

Posted: April 19, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations, people
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On a warm sunny Saturday in April.
People out and about in Kensington enjoying the day.

Two women are posing in front of a mural in a Kensington lane while a man takes a picture and another man watches.

In a dead end Kensington lane with a car parked at the end of the lane. There is street art on both sides of the alley. One man is leaning against the wall on one side, taking a photo of a man who is leaning against the other wall.

Reflections of people walking on the sidewalk, reflected in the side windows of a red vehicle.

A couple is posing for engagement photos. She is sitting on the hood of a red and white Mini Cooper. He is leaning against the front of the car. The car has big eyelashes over the front headlights. The car is parked on a street in Kensington.

A couple is sitting on the sidealk outside a row of boarded up houses. The houses are brick and are painted in bright yellow, orange and red.

A couple is sitting by a window inside a restaurant. The exterior wall of the building is covered in a mural of brightly coloured little monsters. A woman is standing outside by the window as she checks her phone.

Niagara Street peeps

Posted: April 8, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Street art and murals
close to the intersection of Niagara Street and Graffiti Alley.

below:  A mural on the side of a house on Niagara Street.
Some of the paint is starting to peel but otherwise it is in good shape.

The side of a brick house is covered with a mural showing a woman's upper body and she has yellow and green hair. Also, there is a woman on a bike with a Toronto scene behind her including the CN Tower and a TTC subway car below her. There are lots of flowers including red roses and white lilies in the picture. The mural is signed by Robert (Reber?) Rian Cruz.

Signature at the top right seems to be Robert Rian Cruz.  Other names are written on the bottom left: doz, nose, cora, anto, wizwon, flur, and markis

Mural painting of a large woman's face. She has yellow and green hair. There are white and pink lilies in the picture too.

Part of a street art painting of a woman on a bike with a Toronto scene behind her including the CN Tower and a TTC subway car below her.

below: Make It by Aaron Li-Hill
In Graffiti Alley but visible from Queen St. West at Niagara.

mural of a fencer with sword drawn and ready. The words are "Make it". It is slightly abstracted and painted to look like there is motion in the picture.

Wheatpaste and paper graffiti on a white concrete block wall. A pair of yip yaps beside a person with an owl head and one wing instead of an arm. The second arm is normal. Also in the picture is a heatpaste black and white picture of a woman riding a bicycle away from the viewer. She is wearing polka dot shorts. Someone has also painted yellow and black bee like creatures with faces (black masks) and brown hats.

Wheatpaste and paper graffiti on a white concrete block wall. A pair of yip yaps beside a person with an owl head and one wing instead of an arm. The second arm is normal.

Square wheatpaste graffiti of a man on a bicycle on a city street. Two large pineapples have been painted on the wall too, one above the bicycle man and one to the right. The pineapples are bright colours, one is orange and yellow and the other is blue and purple.

Close up of picture of woman riding away on a bicycle. An I love Toronto CN TOwer personification sticker is also in the picture

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