Posts Tagged ‘collage’

mademoiselle alley

Posted: September 16, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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On a hydro pole in Graffiti Alley, facing more to the nearest wall than to the alley, I discovered an intriguing collage. It was made of a series of pictures, old-style coloured pictures of women who look like they’d be more comfortable in the 1940’s and 1950’s….they’re straight out of vintage magazines.

an old fashioned type drawing in colour of a woman with short brown hair and a red v neck dress, from the waist up, eyes closed, face looking slightly downwards, on paper on a pole in a lane.

below:  A signature on the bottom of the artwork, Mademoiselle Berthelot.  She’s a street artist from Paris who recently left her mark in Toronto.

an old fashioned type drawing in colour of a woman, back of head mostly, flowers woven into her hair, signature of the artist, mademoiselle berthelot

Stylish women, like this one with long white gloves, surrounded by circles (bubbles?).  Circles made with splotches of paint and blue striped circles made with rubber stamps.

an old fashioned type drawing in colour of a woman in a low cut scoop neck dress, hands on her hips

If you look closely, there are pairs of birds sitting together on top of sealed envelopes.

an old fashioned type drawing in colour of a woman's head, mostly only the back showing, some small flowers braided into her hair.

an old fashioned type drawing in colour of a woman in a low cut yellow dress
So far, this is the only piece I’ve seen by Mademoiselle Berthelot.  Are there more in Toronto?

 

passing faces

Posted: July 12, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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I was walking along Queen Street West near Shaw St when pieces of paper on the wood construction hoardings around one of the buildings caught my eye.  The installation is no longer intact, but the pieces are still compelling.  The mural consisted of many faces of black men.  Even though some of the faces are peeling away, they still look like they are looking at you (or the camera).   Apparently there is another similar mural a bit farther west (by 1050 Queen St. West) but with black and white outlines and highlights instead of red, blue, yellow and green.

pictures of the faces of black men attached to wood construction hoardings and rough outlines and highlights drawn on the faces with crayon, in red, blue, yellow and green. Some of the faces are peeling away at the edges and the look a bit 3D

pictures of the faces of black men attached to wood construction hoardings and rough outlines and highlights drawn on the faces with crayon, in red, blue, yellow and green.

pictures of the faces of black men attached to wood construction hoardings and rough outlines and highlights drawn on the faces with crayon, in red, blue, yellow and green. The faces all look like they are looking into the camera

pictures of the faces of black men attached to wood construction hoardings and rough outlines and highlights drawn on the faces with crayon, in red, blue, yellow and green.

pictures of the faces of black men attached to wood construction hoardings and rough outlines and highlights drawn on the faces with crayon, in red, blue, yellow and green.

It may be cheating a bit, but the next picture is from a screen shot of a photo from the artist’s (lavishbat, #oluseye) instagram account.  It shows the whole piece as it was originally.

screen shot of a page from instagram, account of lavishbat, and the photo of a mural made up of hundreds of pictures of black men's faces.

Rubiks cubes and crayons

Posted: August 6, 2015 in galleries
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The art of CubeWorks
now showing at Art/Exp gallery in the Distillery District

 CubeWorks is a group of artists that use unconventional materials to create images.  They are known for the art that they create using Rubik’s cubes but they also use crayons, lego blocks, records, dice, guitar picks, spools of thread, and other mixed media. The pictures below are just a sample.

below: A copy of ‘The Creation of Adam’ that Michaelangelo painted on the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel ceiling in the early 1500’s.  This image is made with 12,090 hand twisted Rubik’s cubes.

A copy of Michaelangelo's painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, The Creation of Adam where God is giving life to man with the meeting of finger tips.

below: On a smaller scale, Space Invaders made with 20 cubes.

Little green space invaders from the old video game made of Rubiks cubes, green space invaders on blue background.

below: Artworks made of crayons, LOVE and a smoking gun.
Each square is 12″ x 12″ and contains just over 1000 crayons.

An image of the famous LOVE red letters in a black and blue square, this one is made of red, black and blue crayons on end.

An image of a smoking revolver that is pointed at the viewer. It is made from 9 squares and each square is filled with crayons on their ends. The background is red crayons, the smoke is yellow crayons.

An image of a smoking revolver that is pointed at the viewer. It is made from 9 squares and each square is filled with crayons on their ends. The background is red crayons, the smoke is yellow crayons. A close up of some of the squares to show the crayons more clearly.

below:  The Joker’s face, made with spools of thread, hangs from the ceiling.

An image of the Joker's face made with spools of thread hangs from the ceiling.

below: Images made with old broken record albums, Amy Winehouse and Jim Morrison

image of Amy Winehouse made from broken records on a background that is a collage of newpaper pieces.

image of Jim Morrison, the guitar player from Doors, his head with facial features painted in black but his hair is made with broken records.

Gallery sign on the exterior of a brick building, square sign with purplish background. Art Exp is the name of the gallery

More information on CubeWorks

 

Obsolescence

Posted: March 22, 2015 in galleries
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Obsolescence, by Shelagh Keeley, 2014
at The Power Plant, Harbourfront Centre

A man is looking at a large art piece on a wall. A collage called Obsolescence by Shelagh Keeley,

The piece covers a wall that is 25 x 40 feet in a room that is only 10 feet wide.

close up of part of a large collage art piece on a wall

The large collage includes photographs taken inside an abandoned textile factory in Monchengladbach Germany.

close up of part of a large collage art piece on a wall. One of the pictures is of a typewriter

A dictionary definition: “Obsolescence: being in the process of passing out of use or usefulness; becoming obsolete.“

close up of part of a large collage art piece on a wall

One of the inspirations for this piece was Marshall McLuhan’s 1970 “Notes on Obsolescence” which opens with the lines:  “When print or the motor car is referred to as “obsolete” many people assume that it is therefore doomed to speedy extinction. A casual glance at the historical record indicates the contrary. Gutenberg did not discourage handwriting. There is a great deal more handwriting done even in the age of the typewriter than was ever done before printing”.

And it ends with: “Obsolescence is a very large and mysterious subject that has had very little attention in relation to its importance.” The present paper may … thus help awareness of the role of obsolescence in sparking creativity and the invention of new order.”

A woman is looking at a large art piece on a wall. A collage called Obsolescence by Shelagh Keeley,

Like all art, it is subjective.   Like good art, it has the potential to make you want to linger in front of it and even to reflect and think.

The upper part of a collage by Shelagh Keeley at The Power Plant gallery. This is the top part of the piece which is 25 feet high.

This piece is scheduled to remain at The Power Plant until 17 May 2015.

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