Posts Tagged ‘alley’

a fresh coat

Posted: March 31, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Repainting a wall in Graffiti Alley

begiinning to paint, starting with the red - new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background

painting new graffiti, blue and yellow next, new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background

new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background

new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background
new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background
close up of a door and doorstep that is incorporated into new graffiti tag art in the alley, red with yellow polka dots on blue background

another Kensington alley

Posted: March 30, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Borden Street becomes an alley south of College Street.  It runs along the east side of Kensington Community School, then makes a turn and runs part way along the south side of the school.  All of the garage doors have been painted with pictures and murals.

below:  The most northerly garage door has a sign that indicates that the murals were a gift to the children of Kensington Community School from the Kensington Market Action Committee.  They were painted by a number of different artists.

A large green and black beetle (or a similar insect) painted on a garage door along with words

longer view of part of an alley showing the street art covered garage doors.

Street art piece of a tag in the middle and a face on either top corner.

Graffiti on a garage door. A face is in the top right corner and she is looking down towards the ground. Stylized.

Graffiti painting of a hand holding a can of spray paint.

Garage door with a very large round fat yellow mother hen with two little chicks following behind her.

Graffiti painting on a garage door of the words "Hi Def" in rounded fat letters with colours in pinks greens and black squares.

A mural on a garage door, a wispy picture of a man, an owl and a pair of eyes

close up of a man

north end of an alley with garage doors on the right, white chain link fence on the left. The garage doors are covered with street art and graffiti.

North end of the alley, looking towards College Street.

 

below:  Hey and Hello, by J. Stanton

 A mural on a garage door, all yellow and black, stylized figures a fish, a bone, a wedge of cheese with a face, two cherries made into little figures with eyes, mouth and legs, a large sandwich with a face on the bun as well as arms and legs, also a lemon with eyes, arms and legs. personified food,,

below: A painting by lexr in 2012, Hey Markusiel.
The sign on the gate refers to the Yinka Dene Alliance, a coalition of six First Nations groups from northern British Columbia who organized to stop the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline being built through their territory.

Wooden garage door with a painting of a boy with a baseball cap on his head and a breathing mask around his neck and nose.

below: Street art piece by Cam Novak

Purple and blue abstract street art on a garage door.

below: Max and the Wild Things by ACS Murals (Annex Creative Services Murals)

Mural on a garage door of Max and the Wild Things, characters from the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" . They are swinging from tree branches.

Close up of a Mural on a garage door of Max and the Wild Things, characters from the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" . Two of the wild things are are swinging from tree branches.

below: Another ACS mural

mural on a garage door in an alley of a marine scene. A large grey and white shark is swimming along with a yellow and black angel fish. There is a pink starfish and some coral as well.

Graffiti tag on a garage door in an alley, green tag on blue and orange background. The tag, or word, says "sighto" or something like that.

Blue graffiti tag on pale orange background on a laneway garage door. The word 'Suniti' is written in small letters in the top left corner.

below: The next four pictures are from a mural that covers a couple of garages.  From left to right.

colourful graffiti of two bulls

multicoloured street art on a garage door of a boy reaching forward, his hand is foreshortened and is clasest to the viewer.

street art painting on a garage door in a laneway, a woman with open mouth under a row of eyes

colourful graffiti painting of a man's face surrounded by a lot of abstract shapes

eyes in the alley

Posted: March 23, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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I went back to Graffiti Alley the other day.
When I was just east of Niagara Street I noticed these eyes looking at me.

One very realistic eye in a partial circle, in a boarded up window above head level so it looks like it's looking down at you.

A small blue Stickman sneaks into the photo too!

 

A wall with a door in the middle of it. There is a street art piece of three heads. Two very stylized men and a more realistic looking woman. Bright colours.

Three faces painted on a garage door by Jon Todd.

Close up of a stylized and slightly abstacted man's face on a wall in an alley

close up of a street piece that is very red, with one whitish grey eye. Some faint swirly white lines demark the face, or at least the upper quadrant that is visible in the picture

A sticker on a pole with green in the background. The sticker is of a man's head. He has a beard and big brown moustache and he is wearing a red toque with a label on it that says 'checo'

slightly abstacted painting of a face in white orange, yellow and brown, in 3/4 profile

Some stickers or slaps on the side of an air conditioner. One is of a frog head with its tongue out and eyes closed. The other is of a green man's face, also with his tongue out.

A garage covered with a large abstract and very colourful painting, swirls and geometric shapes, along with at least three or four eyes. Signed @jchiale

by Jimmy Chiale

Close up, and a side angle shot, of colourful graffiti on a door, door frame and wall. Bright colours, geometric shapes such as white circle around brown, pink zig zags.

…and a mouth too!

Graffiti painting of a bright red pair of lips slightly parted to see shiney white teeth. On a garage door, in an alley.

 Links for more information

Jon Todd

Jimmy Chiale

animals and birdo birds in Roncey

Posted: March 18, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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On Queen St. West, just before it meets Roncesvalles Ave., is the Corona Restaurant and Nightclub.  Along the wall of this building are a number of pieces of street art.   Only a small section is visible from the street.

Two pieces of street art along the upper floor of a brick building. In front, closest to the street is a young woman's head. The other is a colourful stylized bird by the street artist Birdo. The words "Birdo Wales" are written in white letter between the two pieces. The Corona Restaurant with a yellow awning is on the right and James Dys Antiques and Collectibles is on the left. is on the left.

Close up of Two pieces of street art along the upper floor of a brick building. In front, closest to the street is a young woman's head. The other is a colourful stylized bird by the street artist Birdo. The words "Birdo Wales" are written in white letter between the two pieces.

If you follow the alley that runs behind Queen St., you will find more street art alongside the same building.

Destination Mammals Cabana mural,
The back part is a mural entitled ‘Destination Mammal Cabana’ by Birdo, Spudbomb and SKE1.  It was painted in 2012.

Destination Mammals Cabana mural,

Destination Mammals Cabana mural, middle part, large baboon wearing a party hat, a giraffe, a crazy looking zebra and a green turtle, street art on a wall.

Destination Mammals Cabana mural, purple ostrich, screaming baboon and a giraffe,

Destination Mammals Cabana mural, hairy creature with mouth wide open and wearing suglasses and a rhino by a beach umbrella, street art, graffiti,

Destination Mammals Cabana mural, upright yellow tiger, antelope wearing yellow and green stripe beach wear and some other hairy creature with sunglasses on.

blog_mammal_sign

On the north wall of the same building…..

metal stairs to a small landing outside a door on the second storey of a concrete brick building. The walls of the bottom floor are covered with graffiti. Immediately behind the stairs is a large blue letter Z.

If you look closely at the above picture, on the right hand side metal pole supporting the landing, is a sticker.  Below, that sticker up close.

A small yellow bird on a small sticker. It is an Uber 5000 bird, wearing glasses and holding a red book. He's on a metal pole.
three murals on alley walls

mural by birdo, red background, a man's head and an creature with an animal face and a body that looks like a blue checked sweater

a mural by birdo, a small black and grey bird that is holding a geometric shape in blue and white diamond shaped sections.

Looking west along the alley towards Roncesvalles Ave.

looking west along an alley in late winter. Street art on the walls on the left, garage doors on the right. Buildings on Roncesvalles can be seen at the end of the alley which is about a block long.

but if you walk slightly west, away from Roncesvalles, you will encounter two more pieces by Birdo.  The ‘Dreamer’ is on the same building as the Destination Mammal Cabana that is pictured above.

A street art piece painted in a small stairwell, down from alley level. The door way is the head of a woman and her arms extend over part of the stairwell walls. She is dressed in red and blue including a birdo hat.

A birdo mural on a dirty light grey wall of a stylized bird and the word "dreamer" written in large black letters.

the Great Wall of Chinatown

Posted: March 18, 2015 in graffiti and street art, public art
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In an alley to the southeast of Huron St. and  Dundas West is a mural of the Great Wall of China.  It is 147 feet long (almost 45 m) and 12 feet high.

large mural of the great wall of China in an alley, wide angle view with two people walking in front of it

part of large mural of the great wall of China in an alley with a telephone pole in front of it.

part large mural of the great wall of China in an alley, the street end of the alley with part of the mural, the back door of a shop on the other side of the alley is also in view

part of large mural of the great wall of China in an alley, painting of a few people walking towards a building on the great wall

the signature part of a mural, Chinatown BIA, Chinese lettering and the names of the artists.

Chinatown BIA.
Mural painted by Blinc Studios artists: Allan Bender, John Nobrega, Rick Sauve,  Brian Broders, Jesse McQuaig and Ming Lau.
Painted in the summer of 2013.

winter trees

Posted: March 10, 2015 in general Toronto, nature
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Bare branches, snow, and sometimes blue sky –
things that usually only come together in winter.

Views that are hidden behind summer leaves are revealed in winter’s barrenness.

A very large tree in winter in front of three semi detached two stroey houses on the beach.

A street scene - row houses, some red brick and some painted in green, with two very tall trees in front of them.

Trees take on a different character when they have no leaves

An interesting shaped tree with many large branches in a snow covered alley with garages along both sides of the alley.

and they cast a different shadow.

The lower part of a tree, mostly the tree trunk, beside a pale grey fence, in the snow. The shadow on the fence shows a lot of the upper tree branches as well.

Toronto is a city of trees.  They are everywhere, and a surprising number of them are large, mature trees. 

A large tree with bare branches in front of row houses from the 19602 or 1970s. red brick with contrasting white siding, black mansard roofs. Don Mills.

An alley with a wood fence on the right and a brick building on the left. A car is parked at the end and just beyond the car is a large tree. Winter time. snow.

A view from a snow covered park. Two large trees, the one farther away is a birch tree. A black metal fence is between the park and the sidewalk. Single family houses are across the street from the park but there are large apartment buildings in the distance.

Regent park housing slated for demolition, in the snow with trees,

A tree in front of an old brick house.

When we think of trees we usually think of shade on a hot day, or maybe the joy that spring buds bring, or maybe the rustle of fallen leaves in the autumn.   The winter tree is often overlooked but they too add to the character of this city. 

A large gold sparkly treble clef hangs from a tree branch. A decoration in winter.

Broadcast Lane

Posted: March 8, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Graffiti in a Cabbagetown lane.

Graffiti street art, smiley man's face in pink with orange hair and orange moustache. Also abtracts in blues.

Graffiti on a garage door obscured by a large pile of snow. Open metal gate between two garages, graffiti can be just seen down the wall on one of the garages, beyond the gate.

graffiti painting of a musician, trumpet player in yellow on blue background, above a garage door in a lane

backs of buildings, cars parked behind the buildings, piles of snow on the side of the alley, graffiti on the walls and garage doors.

A tree with it's branches painted in rainbow colours, from left to right: red, orange, yellow, green, blue. A man is sitting at the base of the tree, back to the viewer, in a yoga position. Unfortunately, part of the mural has been tagged over in sea foam green DWEL. Wintertime, snow on the ground. .

large stylized man's face graffiti in orange hues on a light grey door.

A large painted man's face on a brick wall. Close to it is a line drawing (black on white) of a woman's face but she's much smaller.

Two graffiti faces on a wall, one woman and one man. Metal bars surrounding a small parking spot behind the building partially obscure the wall.

Behind 509 Dance, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre on Parliament Street.

Mural over the back entrance to 509 Dance, ghetto blaster in one corner, a guy break dancing, and upside down almost, in the picture. He's wearing a yellow hat.

Close up of part of the mural where a guy is break dancing.

Chinatown mural

Posted: February 27, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Chinatown Mural
2011 by Alexa Hatanaka and Aaron Li-Hill
Commissioned by the Chinatown BIA & located in an alley near Dundas & Spadina.
The mural is based on scenes from everyday life in Toronto’s Chinatown.

Part of a mural on an alley wall. There are two parts of the mural visible in this photograph. An older man is riding a bicycle in one part and twp people are sharing an umrella and walking away from the viewer in the other part

fish eye lens photo of the mural, taken from the left hand side, older man on bicycle is the closest picture on the mural, next are the two people sharing an umbrella. The remaining parts of the mural are more difficult to discern. There is a car parked in the alley

mural showing three people, a child, the head of a middle aged man with a brimmed hat in profile, and an older man sitting

fish eye pens photo of the whole Chinatown mural

part of the Chinatown mural

Part of the Chinatown mural - an older woman is with a small child

Right end of the Chinatown mural, the end that is closest to Dundas St. The shop that is next to the alley in which the mural is painted can be seen in the photo.

A bike is leaning against a wall of an alley, there is snow on the ground. On the wall is the right hand end of a long mural

article 13

Posted: February 18, 2015 in graffiti and street art, history, locations
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Amnesty International Toronto Organization is a group that works in the to raise public awareness of human rights issues. One of the projects that it supports is  Urban Canvas.  Thirty murals were planned, each based on one of the thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Art Alley Mural Project produced by Arts Etobicoke in 2010 was designed by  Susan Rowe Harrison and painted by William Lazos.  It incorporates a poem by Dionne Brand, Toronto’s Poet Laureate  in 2010 that is based on Article 13.   This article states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.”

A narrow lane, or pedestrian walkway, between two buildings. On the left hand side wall there is a mural with a black and white background, and red letters. The words are a poem about freedom of movement as stated in article 13 of the Declaration of Human Rights.

The mural is on the wall of 4893A Dundas St. West, alongside a narrow pedestrian walkway.

 

See also a previous post on two of Urban Canvas project murals at Parma Court 

Also, a mural celebrating education, article 26.

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

 

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