Posts Tagged ‘faces’

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.

Bloordale, north of Bloor

Posted: June 18, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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below: “Stop and we’ll build” in Bloordale Village, an area along Bloor St. West between Dufferin St. and Lansdowne Ave.

Street signs on a metal pole. The top on is a Bloor St. West sign with the words Bloordale village on it as well. Below that is a stop sign that someone has written "and we'll build", altered sign

Last Saturday was Bloordale’s third annual community garage sale and laneway crawl.  Many front yards were full of items for sale.   A couple of families were selling homemade food and there was at least one lemonade stand.

A woman stands in her front yard talking to a man and his daughter who are on the sidewalk. Her frontyard is full of items that are for sale in a yard sale.

I walked the area fairly early in the morning so many of the activities were just getting set up.  There were things to do and games to play in the alleys and in Susan Tibaldi park.  I have blogged previously about this area so last Saturday I only took pictures of things that were new.   There weren’t very many changes in the alleys.

A large graffiti face covering the side of a garage in an alley. Line drawing in green and orange.

below:  We are Starlight, we are golden…. **

some green weeds growing in front of an old garage in an alley with a black door on which someone has spray painted the word starlight.

below: … and it seems that we were all born in outer space.  Lovebot and some friends.

mural on a garage door in an alley. a green giraffe, a blue lovebot, and a purple goose, with the words "We were all born in outer space"

Along the side of a building on Jenet Ave I found a large mural of three faces painted by Shalak, Fiya and Bruno Smoky.  It faces a parking lot and there were cars in the way.  I took some photos anyhow; I think you should be able to see the faces reasonably well.

below: Two women, the one on the left was painted by Shalak while the one on the right is by Fiya.

two faces, mural, painted on the side of building, both women, a multicoloured face in profile by Shalak on the left and a woman with purple hair by Fiya on the right.

below:  The mustached man and his fish was painted by Bruno Smoky.

mural of a man's face, eyes closed, wearing a hat, mustache, older man

part of a mural, a gold fish swimming, it is also reflected in the windows of the car that is parked beside it.

below: Remnants of old Rob Ford graffiti still remain around the city including this doorway.

an old doorway in a red brick building in a lane. There is an old graffiti face of Rob Ford painted on the door. R I P has been written on his forehead.

below: This building on Brock Street on has been empty for years.

the back of an old three storey brick building that is empty. The doors and windows have been boarded up. Some tags have been painted there, cinq, dfine and stud.

below:  The front of 668 Brock Ave with its Salvation Army ghost sign.  In 1921 it was home to the Brock Avenue People’s Mission while next door at 666 Brock Ave., the Number 16 Corps of the Salvation Army was stationed.  Its history since then is still a mystery to me.
ghost sign, Salvation Army, across the top of an old brick building, number 668 Brock St., three storeys with fancy brickwork across the top of the roofline. boarded up, metal fence in front, concrete covered front yard, yellow fire hydrant.

a metal box on a wall, both painted a yellowish brown, on the box someone has written woof woof woof woof woof meow vertically so that meow is under a pile of woofs. The house across the street is in the background.

below: At the not so picturesque corner of Lansdowne and Paton Rd., I found a metal fence.  A sign on it says that it is the ‘Lansdowne Fence Temporary Artwork’ by artists Scott Eunson and Marianne Lovink, commissioned by the TTC in 2010.   But why is the TTC involved with this vacant lot?

metal fence on the corner, on two sides of a large vacant lot.

below: And as you can see, it’s a large lot.  As it turns out, this was the site of the TTC Lansdowne Carhouse up until 1996.  Although the carhouse was classified as a heritage building, it was demolished in 2003.  The land has been vacant ever since.

a chainlink fence with some metal cut outs of flowers and pigeons on it, with weeds growing up in front of it, and a few real pigeons on the ground.

below: Lansdowne carhouse, 1996, photo credit: Robert Lubinksi, TTC collection, found online.

historical picture of Lansdowne carhouse, 1996 with old TTC buses in front of the building

below: A new mural has been painted on the side of the South Indian Dosa Mahal restaurant at the corner of Emerson and Bloor.  It is the creation of SPUD and his team with the support of StreetARToronto and the Bloordale BIA.  It’s probably the biggest tiger cub in Toronto!

large mural of a tiger cub playing with two balls, one red and one blue. The cub has one green eye and one blue eye. Covers the whole of the side of a building

part of a large mural of a tiger cub playing with two balls, one red and one blue. The cub has one green eye and one blue eye. Covers the whole of the side of a building - head of the cub and part of the blue ball

part of a large mural of a tiger cub playing with two balls, one red and one blue. The cub has one green eye and one blue eye. Covers the whole of the side of a building. - tail and red ball

below: Dasdardly Whiplash in his latest role as a graffiti artist near Lansdowne subway station.

street art painting on a doorway and wall in an alley, of cartoon character Dastardly Whiplash with his mustache, black cape and top hat spray painting a tag on a wall.

below: Small places of worship are scattered all over the city.  Many are in buildings once used for other purposes, including (by the looks of it) this one, the Belarusan Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Parish of St. Kiryla of Turau.  Trivia #1 of the day: autocephalous is “self-headed” and in this context refers to a church whose bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop.  Trivia #2:  St. Kiryla (c.1130 – 1182) was an eloquent and poetic preacher in Turau which is south of Minsk and east of Warsaw.  And on that note I will move on before I end up writing a treatise on Eastern Orthodox religions.

low, one storey brick building with a pink double door, metal fence and gate in front, ornate cross above the door.

below: Not your average patio!

back deck of a light industrial building, no railing, two canvas chairs, steps down to ground level where there is a couch
two old cars, one red and one dark grey, are parked in an overgrown backyard on an alley.

large black letters sprayed onto a light grey garage that say Love But Think

And last, let’s finish with a splash of bright summer sunshine!

two large yellow flowers attached to the handle bars of a bicycle

** yes, I know I’ve misquoted

Frank Kovac lane

Posted: June 8, 2016 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Frank Kovac Lane is a short alley just south of Christie subway station.  Some of the garage doors were painted with murals in past years and, as usual, there were plenty of tags.  Recently, the lane was the scene of a community mural painting session thanks to the 4th Toronto Rangers (Girl Guides), StreetARToronto,  artist Nick Sweetman, and some local residents.  Now some of the tags are gone and more importantly, some more garage doors are home to bright and cheerful murals.  A few of them are included here.

below: At the north end of the lane is this large, colourful mural by Nick Sweetman.
Two large blue bears have found a plethora of honey.  Will the bees share?

large mural by Nick Sweetman on a wall in Frank Kovac Lane, two very large blue bears are eating honey from honeycombs while a few large bees buzz around.

part of a large mural by Nick Sweetman on a wall in Frank Kovac Lane, two very large blue bears are eating honey from honeycombs while a few large bees buzz around - close up of one bear's face

below: The new murals continue the animal theme, “Urban Wildlife”, starting with this fox.

garage door in an alley painted with a mural of a fox head beside a bicycle wheel with trilliums growing up in front of it.

below: A common Toronto animal, a raccoon, beside a red fire hydrant.

view in an alley, a lavendar coloured door. to the left of the door is a garage door painted with a mural of a raccoon and a red fire hydrant.

below: A blue jay eyes some blueberries.

mural on a pale yellow garage door of a blue jay sitting on hydro wires, also a bunch of wild blueberries is in the image

below: Several monster faces have lived in this alley for a while and they still remain.
This one looks like he needs a hair cut.

garage door painted with a monster face, big mouth and teeth, orange nose, in tones of blue, grey and orange, ivy is growing over the top of the garage and it looks like green hair.

three garages in a row in an alley, all painted with a large monster face

a skinny blue graffiti figure on the edge of a garage, between two garage doors with stylized and abstract faces painted on them. One is black and green and the other is black and white

An old garage and concrete fence with a door in it. The fence is cracked above the door. The door is painted black with bright colour scribbles, the garage door has a black and white mural on it

a painting in grey tones of a young boy in old fashioned shorts and long sleeved top, standing.

below: This graffiti is actually on Harbord Street but I couldn’t resist taking a picture of it
– a camera and an “oh snap”

Above Guan's auto service shop, a graffiti on an upper storey wall, a small camera and turquoise lettering and words in pink that say Oh snap. Above that is a red billboard for Bud and Burger

anatomy lesson, and more

Posted: May 31, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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Today’s blog starts with an anatomy lesson as illustrated by vampz on a wall in Graffiti Alley – the arterial and venous blood flow of the head and neck.

street art painting of a larger than life, realistic depiction of the blood supply to the human head. Skull with eyeball, teeth, some neck muscles as well as arterial and venous blood vessels. In profile.

I walked the alleys behind Queen St West today to see if there was anything new.  The biggest new pieces were the above head and a new birdo creation, pictured below.  A realistic looking blue jay and a floating pink gem.

a garage decorated with a mural by birdo, of a realistic blue jay and a pink cut gem floating in front of the bird.

  below: The back part of the blue jay is on the side wall of the garage
which produces an interesting 3D effect.

a garage decorated with a mural by birdo, of a realistic blue jay and a pink cut gem floating in front of the bird. The front part of the bird is on the garage door and the back part of the bird is on the side wall.

below: This tribute to the basketball Raptors and their appearance in the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals is also a new addition.  DeRozan is pictured on the left and my apologies for not knowing the player on the right.  Unfortunately, it was too close to garbage day and the bins were overflowing so I couldn’t move them out of the way.  Next time.

streetart mural in tribute to Toronto Raptors basketball team and their presence in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016. The heads of two black basketball players on a red and purple background.

below: And unfortunately, garbage was an issue today.

a bin of garbage plus a pile of garbage bags in front of a street art piece, a face and a tag in green and red, signed hangman, detroit.

below: The face isn’t new to the alley, but the words are.
Written by a woman with priorities!

Pretty female working retail falls in love with guys who need bail
the sweet smell of lust or love
you mean well, but money can get her a new car and clean nails.
The Lady”

number 669 in lime green letters above a stylized woman's face with yellow hair and a blue top. Someone has written words on the brick wall beside the painting.

below: Love Department featuring Phoebe.
You can find more of her on instagram @phoebenewyork

A little paper paste up of a large headed girl with black hair and a large red heart on her head. on a pink background with the words Love Department. Stuck on a garage door painted in pink and blue shapes

below: Even a simple smile will do most of the time.

under the rusted metal of a wire grill over a window, on a wall that was painted in black and orange street art, there is a small white line drawing of a girl's head

below: Cloud Monet and the woman in white, or Who you lookin’ at Mr. Fish?

small vertical drawing of a woman, drawn in white, wearing a long form fitting dress, standing, on brown, tied to a wall with a mural laready painted on it.

a painted piece of street art has been partially covered with many vertical lines in black marker, producing an interesting pattern over the colours below.

Three hinges have been bent forward so they are flat, multicoloured graffiti behind them, words written on the hinges except for the bottom one which has a question mark on it.

below: A couple of stikmans.  No anatomical realism here!

a little wooden stikman with only one leg on a green concrete block wall, with white stencilled daisies above him, street art in an alley

a very pale blue stikman on a very pale blue window and wall.

below: A bit of mystery.  I’m not sure if it’s a stikman or if it’s a newcomer to the alley

orange coloured stikman, double, foot to foot, in a pink wall with foam insulation on both sides of him

below: Pull up a seat and rest a bit, we’re almost done.

cast off furniture in a lane, two chairs, a TV, a small yellow set of drawers, a mop,

below: The final words on today’s walk.  Someone’s not happy!

graffiti wods on a red and white wall, "Graffiti Sucks"

eyes open, watching for spring

Posted: April 3, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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Faces in the alley, Graffiti Alley

As March turns into April and winter sort of turns into spring.

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below: Looks like someone has already started his spring cleaning.

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below: He says, “See you in hell”.
She thinks, “I’m already there. You should try living beside this smelly thing.”

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below: Jarus has painted a young man

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below: It seems that even Lovebot needs to eat…  Not sure about the purple hamburger bun though!

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P.K., a newcomer to the alley?

Posted: April 2, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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I took a short walk through the graffiti alleys behind Queen St. West yesterday.  I found four new face/skull paintings by artist P.K. (which is short for?) all close together on Rush Lane, and all near 530 Richmond St. West.

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - intricate black line drawing of skull and facial features on teal background

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - black outlines of top of skull, eyes, nose holes, and sort of teeth, on red background

below: A turtlecaps paste-up from last year is still on the wall.

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - black spray paint outlines of features on multicoloured background - on a brick wall between two windows, small turtlecaps paste up also in the picture

alley laneway streetart by artist PK of a stylized face, or could be a skull - red and yellow drippy blobs on a black background

be inspired and unique

Posted: December 11, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Today’s blog post comes from slightly farther afield than I usually venture.   I went northwest to the Jane and Finch area.  As I drove north on Jane street, I spotted some eye-catching paintings on the walls of the Driftwood Community and Recreation Centre.

below: ‘Unique’, a vibrant heart painted by Girls Club

A mural of a large multicoloured heart with peace symbols in circles floating around it. Words: by Girls Club 2013, 'unique'

below: ‘Rooted’ trees by Lil Bruxas and part of ‘United Freedom’ on the back wall

murals on three walls at the Driftwood Community Centre, two trees and a large face

below: ‘United Freedom’ by Essencia

A brightly coloured mural on a brick wall. A large oval face with music symbols on the left and butterflies on the right. Called united freedom and painted by essencia.

part of a mural on a brick wall, multicolour butterflies

below: A blackburn traffic signal box sits on that corner.  Straight from the jungle.

A metal box on a street corner, a leopard by street artist blackburn

close up of street art painting of a greenish grey leopard with blue eyes, nose and mouth

A little father south there are a couple of high rise apartment buildings on the northeast corner of Jane and Finch.   Each has a mural painted around one of the entrances to the building.

below:  ‘Be Inspired, Love Yourself, Educate Others’ by the BeLovEd movement,
painted by Shalak Attack and Fiya Bruxas, 2011.

mural painted on a wall of an apartment building at Jane and Finch titled 'Beloved', painted by Shalak and Fiya Bruxa in 2011. People doing various things.

Part of a mural

part of a mural by Shalak and Fiya Bruxa

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part of a mural by Shalak and Fiya Bruxa

part of a mural by Shalak and Fiya Bruxa, a young woman holding a new born baby in her hand.

***

below: ‘Strong Women, Strong Community’ also by the BeLovEd Movement surrounds a doorway.  Although there is a sidewalk that leads directly to the corner of Jane and Finch, no one was using this entrance.  I was alone when I walked around this building from the parking lot by the main door.

mural across the lower level of a high rise building, surrounding an entranceway

part of a mural on the lower floor of a grey brick apartment building, women, one holding flowers, one resting her head on her hand, one sitting on the grass.

Strong Women, Strong Community are the words written on a mural, people painted on a wall

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I spy, we spy

Posted: December 7, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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There is so much to see in this city, big and small, mundane and interesting, bland and colourful, old and new; we’ve got it all.   It’s not uncommon to walk a route many times and still see something new each time.  The little details are easy to overlook.  Yesterday I walked parallel to Queen Street West from Roncesvalles eastward.  There are lots of little alleys in the area and the streets are interesting too.  I wasn’t alone.  Penny (from Walking Woman blog) provided a second set of eyes as we went looking for whatever there was to find.   Four eyes really can be better than two!  Although we saw many things (of course!) I’ve chosen to concentrate on the “little things” that we spied.

below: Happy. Faces at our feet. Happy to see you walk by.

A blue square shaped painted spot on the pavement. Two eyes and a smiling mouth have been drawn on top in darker blue

below: Faces above our heads. A one way sign as a canvas.

Two faces drawn on a one way sign

below: And faces at the end of the path.

garage door painted green with a white line drawing of an odd shaped face, as seen from looking down a path, fences on either side of the path

below: Yesterday’s lovebot sighting

black line drawing of a lovebot on a yellow section of a graffiti picture on a garage door in a laneway

below: It’s December, but this house is still ready for Halloween.

A small porch in front of a house that is still decorated for Halloween, a couple of fake arms and a fake tombstone with RIP on it.

below: A little leprechaun in a tree. Perhaps he’s been here since St. Patricks Day?  And how many leprechauns have crossed here?  We weren’t lucky enough to see any yesterday.

Up in a tree, a decoration with a leprechaun holding a broken sign that says leprechaun crossing.

below: One use for a bathtub!  Dirty, not clean.

An old fashioned white bathtub in a front yard. It's been filled with dirt and is now used as a planter.

below: A different approach to keeping the flowers blooming well into December… they’re looking a little faded, but they are still pink and growing in abundance.

a ring of pink plastic flowers around the base of an evergreen shrub in a front yard

below: But even a single flower adds to a picture.

An abstract painting with the words you need this written on it. below, tucked into the hinge of the door is a plastic red rose

below: Pictures on walls can delight, even ones as simple as this little pinwheel.

8 sided pinwheel in reds and blues fixed against the top corner of a shed or garage wall in a lane

below: Make art not war….

make art not war slogan painted on a garage door in a red line drawing face

below: … or make money.  The money shot.

graffiti with two dollar signs and three cent signs on a rust coloured brick wall

below: She was hiding in the back corner of a store.

head of an old mannequin with blond wig, one eye is missing, and the covering on her is wearing off.

below: Miniature eclairs for sale at The Tempered Room. We didn’t try them but they looked fabulous.

miniature eclairs for sale in a store

below: Dean’s pink ride was parked for the afternoon.

the back of a bright pink car with the license Neon Dean

below: A mystery message.  Google tells me that pav is a type of Indian bread but I don’t think that that’s what the writer was referring to here.  Belongins (belongings?) here probably means possessions but I like to play with words and so I wonder if it is the other meaning of belonging, i.e. as in “a sense of belonging”.   Or maybe, he be longing all his life to be under a palm tree?!

graffiti on a white door in an alley, the words All My life Belongins Pain with a small drawing of a palm tree

below: The sign for Cattlemens Meat Market is looking a little worn,
and not because it’s been here since 1538!

old sign on the back of a building that says Cattlemens meat market 1538

below: And last, three stencils that were close together in an alley, three animals, an old fashioned upright vacuum cleaner and an old video camera.

stencil of three small animals walking across the lower part of a grey garage door.

black stencil of an old fashioned upright vacuum cleaner

black stencil of an old fashioned video camera. Someone has written the word true under it.

a little teaser

Posted: November 10, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations
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There’s a new mural being painted.  It’s not quite finished

looking down a sidewalk. A wall on the left has been painted with gold orange and brown pyramids, a lift is in the middle of the sidewalk, a busy street, Lawrence Ave, is to the right.

but it is looking impressive!

view of a mural that runs beside a sidewalk, taken from across the street

It is the work of Essenciartcollective, namely brunosmoky, shalakattack and fiyabruxa.

It started to rain quite heavily while I was there so I didn’t linger.
I’ll return soon – and by then it should be finished!  A few photos in the meantime:

part of a larger mural on an underpass in Toronto, on Lawrence West, two woman's faces in green, eyes closed, heads slightly uplifted. long green grass around them, some orange and blue plants that look like water lily pads seen from below.

part of a larger mural on an underpass in Toronto, on Lawrence West, a large owl in purples and reds with a yellow eyes. He dominated the picture. There is also a warthog and an elk (reindeer?) behind him
Parts of the mural are very apocalyptic

part of a larger mural on an underpass in Toronto, on Lawrence West, an apocalyptic view of Toronto with the CN Tower and downtown skyscrapers crumbling in a lifeless city

part of a larger mural on an underpass in Toronto, on Lawrence West, a close up of an old bearded man's face.

Pictures of the completed mural are now available!

air horns and others

Posted: November 1, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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behind Dupont, near Bartlett

below: This wall has been covered with graffiti for a number of years now.
photo taken July 2015

a wall covered with graffiti, a large bald man's head, a red and white elephant, a lovebot, a black line drawn bird saying I love air horns

below: The same wall in August 2012

a wall covered with graffiti, a large bald man's head, a red and white elephant, a man in purple, a black line drawn bird saying I love air horns

below: Close ups from this past summer

graffiti of a greenish man's face, closed eyes, laughing with mouth open, beside him is a greyish white elephant outlined in red with long tusks and trunk

a lovebot the robot wheatpaste on a door of a building that is covered with other graffiti and street art

below: Farther along the tracks.  Note the small bicycle on the rusted metal drum.
It too has been here for at least a couple of years.

A black and white tag on red background, with the words happy bday nektar written in the corner. In front of the wall is a rusted metal oil drum with some graffiti on it in white including a very meticulously drawn small white bicycle.

graffiti and tags on the back of a building made of concrete blocks, also on two metal storage tanks that are behind the same building.

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